Amazon Employees Wins Alabama for Union Election Vote

For years the workers of the Amazon Company have lobbied to unionise their labour organisations. For the most part, the company have ignored their pleas. Therefore, this time also, most thought the tide was against them. But, for the first time in history, they won against the corporate giant Amazon. amazon alabama nlrbdaybloomberg

The workers won by a large margin of 523 votes. More than 8300 workers at the Staten Island warehouse were eligible to vote in Alabama. This warehouse is the only Amazon warehouse in New York City. This win comes as a reassuring promise at a time when unions saw workers dropping out. The worker enrolling in unions has gone down to its lowest, a mere 10.3%.

This victory, a first in many years, can change the trajectory of labour standards across corporate industries. The win questions the necessity of the traditional bureaucratic union model when grass-root organisations solely accomplished it. union alabama marchsoperbloomberg

Amazon will likely contest this win. For them, it gets projected to be a narrow loss. The pandemic has affected the labour landscape. Workers now have more leverage with their employers. The union should take advantage of the opportunity this transformation gave them.

A judge asked Amazon to rectify their “flagrant unfair labour practices”. On the other hand, Amazon has argued the move by the labour board as “abandoning neutrality of the office”.

President Biden commented that he was glad to see workers ensure their voices get heard. Many workers found working at the factories during the pandemic a radicalising experience. Mr Smalls, the Amazon Labour Union President, got alarmed when he saw an ill co-worker. He led a walkout over the negligence of the safety conditions at the warehouse. Eventually, he got fired. Amazon states it has extreme restrictions to maintain its workers’ safety.