NLRB Swats Down Amazon's Effort to Delay Union Election in Alabama

Some 5,800 workersat Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, will begin voting today on whether to form a union after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) denied Amazon’s last-ditch effort to delay the election. Last month, Amazon made a motion to request a stay of the union election for workers at the fulfillment center in Bessemer and appealed the decision by the NLRB Region 10. On Friday, the NLRB in Washington, D.C., denied both of its motions, allowing the union election to proceed. Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union-UFCW (RWDSU-UFCW), which is conducting the drive for the workers at the Amazon fulfillment center, issued the following statement:

“Once again Amazon workers have won another fight in their effort to win a union voice. Amazon’s blatant disregard for the health and safety of its own workforce was demonstrated yet again by its insistence for an in-person election in the middle of the pandemic. Today’s decision proves that it’s long past time that Amazon start respecting its own employees; and allow them to cast their votes without intimidation and interference.”