Regular full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least $15.80 an hour, higher than the estimated $14.55 per hour on average in the city. Pro-union workers say they want better working conditions, longer breaks and higher wages. The mostly Black workforce at the Amazon facility, which opened in 2020, mirrors the Bessemer population of more than 70% Black residents, according to the latest US census data. It’s unclear how much it spent on such services in 2022. ![]() In a filing released on Thursday, Amazon disclosed it spent about $4.2m last year on labor consultants, who organizers say the retailer routinely solicits to persuade workers not to unionize. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but we know we show our support and solidarity with them.”Īmazon has pushed back hard in the lead-up to both elections. “I’m not too sure what’s going on in Alabama right now, but I know that the sky’s the limit if you can organize any warehouse,” he said, noting that the vote in Alabama could well end up differently. While Smalls’s attention has been focused on securing victory in New York, the efforts in Alabama also weighed heavily. “To be leading in day one and be up a couple hundred against a trillion-dollar company, this is the best feeling in the world,” Smalls said after the conclusion of Thursday’s counting. “It should not be so difficult to organize a union in the United States,” he said.Ĭhris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who has been leading the ALU in its fight on Staten Island, remains hopeful of victory. He also took the opportunity to lash out at current labor laws, which he believes are rigged against unions and favor corporations. ![]() ![]() Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, said on Thursday that the union would be filing objections to how Amazon handled the election in Bessemer but declined to specify. “And I think we’re likely to see more of those going forward.”Īfter a crushing defeat last year in Bessemer, when a majority of workers voted against forming a union, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) got a second chance to organize another campaign when the NLRB ordered a do-over after determining that Amazon tainted the first election. “I don’t think that many people thought that the Amazon Labor Union had much of a chance of winning at all,” Logan said. The nascent Amazon Labor Union (ALU), which led the charge on Staten Island, has no backing from an established union and is powered by former and current warehouse workers. John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said the early vote counts in New York had been “shocking”.
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