Two-thirds of votes in historic union election oppose joining, but legal challenges will prolong final decision.
Amazon has beaten back a historic effort by workers to form a collective bargaining unit in a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, with about two-thirds of ballots cast in the union election voting against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, according to a tally by the National Labor Relations Board. The final tally showed 1,798 votes against and 738 in favor, with about 55% of the 5,867 eligible workers casting a ballot. Another 76 ballots were voided and 505 were challenged. The challenged ballots were not counted or opened, since they would not have changed the outcome. The RWDSU immediately vowed to challenge the results of the election, claiming that «Amazon illegally interfered in the union vote» by intimidating workers and coercing them to vote against the union. «Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees. We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged,» Staurt Appelbaum, president of RWDSU said. «Amazon knew full well that unless they did everything they possibly could, even illegal activity, their workers would have continued supporting the union.
