US labor official suggests Amazon's Alabama workers rerun that unionization vote
- Reference: 1628119689
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/08/04/amazon_union_nlrb/
- Source link:
After pro-union employees, represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), working at the BHM1 fulfillment center in Bessemer in the Cotton State [1]lost their unionization election in April, the union swiftly filed objections to the labor relations board.
"A free and fair election was impossible," said
[2]PDF
Kerstin Meyers, an NLRB hearing officer, this week. "Under the circumstances, I recommend that a second election be ordered."[3]
Stuart Appelbaum, the RWDSU’s president, claimed Amazon deliberately engineered an unfair election environment that skewed the vote. For instance, Amazon had the US Postal Service install a mailbox right in front of the warehouse, and the mega-corp messaged its workers to encourage them to mail in their ballots via this box. It is said the mailbox was placed in a tent, branded with Amazon's anti-union messaging and a sign on it saying vote here – in full view of Amazon's surveillance cameras. It was claimed this was a clear example of Amazon sticking its oar far too deep into the voting process.
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The labor official agreed. “The employer’s conduct in causing this generic mail receptacle to be installed usurped the NLRB’s exclusive role in administering union elections,” Meyers wrote.
“Notwithstanding the union’s substantial margin of defeat, the employer’s unilateral decision to create, for all intents and purposes, an onsite collection box for NLRB ballots destroyed the laboratory conditions and justifies a second election.”
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The e-commerce giant also not only showered workers with messages to vote no, as you might expect, it had them attend mandatory 30-minute meetings that were essentially anti-union lectures. At the end of these meetings, anti-union leaflets and pins were left for staff to pick up, with supervisors watching them as they left.
"I find that by distributing these anti-union materials in the presence of managers, the employer committed objectionable conduct," Meyers noted. "The misconduct herein occurred on numerous occasions at untold number of meetings. Virtually all of the bargaining unit employees were subjected to the misconduct, as these were mandatory employee meetings. Under the circumstances, I find that this conduct is objectionable."
It was also claimed Amazon hired off-duty cops to patrol its facilities during the election period, though it was able to demonstrate to the labor watchdog that these officers were needed due to recent on-site security incidents. Similarly, Amazon was accused of persuading the county to alter traffic light signal patterns to interfere with pro-union campaigning on street corners, though it was shown that Amazon had merely asked the county to carry out a traffic flow study of the area before union campaigning began.
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In the end, 738 votes were cast for joining the RWDSU, and 1,798 votes were cast against from roughly 5,860 possible voters; 505 ballots were challenged, which wouldn't be enough to change the outcome.
[8]UK's biggest trade union takes aim at Amazon over 'price gouging' allegations
[9]You're not imagining it. Amazon and AWS want to hire all your friends, enemies, and everyone in between
[10]Euro watchdog will try to extract $900m from Amazon for breaking data privacy laws
[11]Total recall: Amazon faces legal action from US consumer protection group over hazardous goods
That said, now that Meyers has recommended a second vote be carried out, a regional director of the labor board will decide over the summer whether to demand another election.
“We support the hearing officer’s recommendation that the NLRB set aside the election results and direct a new election,” Appelbaum [12]said in a statement.
“As President Biden reminded us earlier this year, the question of whether or not to have a union is supposed to be the workers’ decision and not the employer’s. Amazon’s behavior throughout the election process was despicable. Amazon cheated, they got caught, and they are being held accountable.”
Amazon said it intends to appeal to block another election, adding that its workers "voted overwhelmingly in favor of a direct connection with their managers and the company." ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/09/amazon_workers_union/
[2] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/08/04/nlrb_amazon_warehouse_alabama_report.pdf
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YQtidjiGhmPLFCf@37Qz1wAAAIQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
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[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/14/uks_largest_trade_union_takes/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/21/amazon_aws_recruitment/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/30/amazon_european_privacy_fine/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/amazon_cpsc_complaint/
[12] https://www.rwdsu.info/breaking_nlrb_hearing_officer_recommends_new_election_at_amazon_in_bessemer_alabama
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
I wasted valuable brainpower responding to this.
You do know what a free and fair ballot is? Or maybe not if you are in the US.
Someone grab my coat please, it's the one with the stuffed pockets.
Re: I wasted valuable brainpower responding to this.
"You do know what a free and fair ballot is?"
Yes, it's one in which every vote is counted and reported accurately, AS CAST. Union representation in the US is decided by secret ballot, and the ballots are counted by the NLRB (who are part of the government, very pro-union, and totally independent of any corporation). So there can be no coercion and if there was miscounting it's the government's own fault.
"Free and fair" does not mean "has the outcome I personally wanted or thought the electors should choose." That's exactly the opposite of free and fair, in fact, and one of the biggest problems with the US today: no one wants to accept the outcome of elections if they dislike the result. The main difference is that progressivists get to keep running them over and over again until they finally win, then they lock in that result forever. But the refusal to accept results of free and fair elections is a nearly universal failure in the US, and it must stop.
Re: I wasted valuable brainpower responding to this.
Maybe you should educate the GOP and Trump then and all the States bleating.
Re: I wasted valuable brainpower responding to this.
"You do know what a free and fair ballot is?" Yes, and it is far more than just counting votes so it is interesting you simply focused on that one aspect. The Official;s conclusion had nothing to do with the vote count, nothing at all.
"So there can be no coercion". Why not? The coercion referred to was before the balot and the counting, si why are you being disingenuous?
"an agency official determined Amazon violated labor laws during the vote in April." Labour Laws and vote counting are totally separate animals.
"no one wants to accept the outcome of elections if they dislike the result." No. Only The right wing. When Trump "won" in 2016 it was not because he won at the ballot box but because of the inanity that is the Electoral College. There is no comparison between the strident, lying Trump camp and the muted objections against his 2016 "win".
It is your ilk that has created the divisiveness you now bleat about.
"But the refusal to accept results of free and fair elections is a nearly universal failure in the US, and it must stop." So go and take it up with GOP and its god? i.e. the ones to blame.
True enough.
But really, is it necessary to attempt to load the ballot so hard the other way ?
Why not just be honest and decent ?
Would that be so hard ?
If Amazon played by the rules and still won, it would be a clear result. The fact that they don't implies they expect to lose.
What exactly do you think politics is, if not trying to convince electors to vote for what you believe to be in your own interests? It's a dirty business, always has been, and the only thing you can really count on is that everyone engaged in the process will tell you lies, distort the truth, and slant the hell out of everything in between. If you can't handle it, don't vote.
There is honest and fair and there is being underhand. " If you can't handle it, don't vote." Bless. Posting that pretty well sums up your politics.
Cheat in all Cases
I wonder if they use use Alexa and Echo to gather personal info on union organizers in their homes. It would be par for the course for them and there is probably fine print allowing employees to be listened in to for quality assurance purposes.
I can't see any difference between the behavior of Amazon management and the Chinese Communist Party. Compulsory brainwashing sessions and coercive monitoring of workers behavior.
A totally false equivalency, not to mention bs. Amazon does not represent a nation, much as it believes it does. Bashing the CCP is very trendy at present maiky from those who believed it was clever shifting manufacturing and its associated pollution and terrible jobs to other countries was being ever so clever and profitable, but have now realised how stupid it was. They also totally ignore the practices in, for example, the USA. Morning brainwashing in all schools is a good example. As is Gitmo, invading and overthrowing foreign governments etc.
As good Christians they should read John 8:7 and apply it to themselves.
The land of the free?
But maybe not so brave….
Standard operating procedure in US politics today: if you don't get the result you wanted, find excuses to repeat the process until you do. This is what happens when people literally cannot fathom how anyone else would ever prefer ______ unless coerced, misinformed, etc. Because obviously what I believe (the opposite of ______) is the only possible way anyone could ever think. Obviously.