The Amazon Union Vote in Alabama Is a Watershed Moment—Here’s Why

The count is officially underway in a historic vote that will determine whether a facility in Bessemer, Alabama becomes the first-ever Amazon warehouse to unionize. While counting began Tuesday, it’s unclear when there’ll be an answer, partly because we don’t know how many of the 5,800 eligible employees voted and also because either party—Amazon or the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)—can challenge ballots, said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU. “It could be a couple of days or it could be more than a week,” he said. “We're not sure.” The 855,000-square-foot facility—Amazon's first fulfillment center in Alabama—opened last March, two weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic and just as ecommerce demand exploded. At the end of 2020 Amazon had nearly 1.3 million full- and part-time employees, an increase of 500,000 over the year prior. What workers want Safety, security and compensation. That's what the RWDSU says employees are demanding. Unionizing would give a voice to workers who “feel like robots that are being managed by robots,” said Appelbaum. Amazon has repeatedly stressed it is doing everything it can to protect employees, including providing Covid-19 vaccine access at onsite locations. The ecommerce giant also points to the $2.5 billion spent in additional pay last year in addition to a starting wage of at least $15 an hour. They’re saying, ‘We give them $15 an hour, why don’t they just shut up?'Stuart Appelbaum, RWDSU “RWDSU membership has fallen 25% during Stuart Appelbaum's tenure, but that's no justification for Mr. Appelbaum to misrepresent the facts," an Amazon spokesperson told Adweek. "Our employees know the truth—starting wages of $15 or more, health care from day one, and a safe and inclusive workplace. We encouraged all of our employees to vote, and their voices will be heard in the days ahead." Amazon's official Twitter account also waded into the politics of the unionization effort, castigating Senator Bernie Sanders during his visit to Bessemer last week: "Sen. Sanders has been a powerful politician in Vermont for 30 years and their min wage is still $11.75. Sanders would rather talk in Alabama than act in Vermont." The $15 minimum wage Appelbaum say Amazon’s actions are not enough. “Rather than dealing with the concerns raised by workers, they are flooding the television market in the Birmingham area with their advertisements. They're saying, ‘We give them $15 an hour, why don't they just shut up?’” Ex-Amazon Employee Chris Smalls on What’s Really Happening Inside Those Warehouses "If it was such a great place to work, why does Amazon have such an extraordinarily high turnover rate?," Appelbaum asked, pointing to his own figures which show the turnover rate is more than 100% per year across all 110 warehouses in the U.S. because of "physical stress and mental stress with a pace that's unbearable." Chris Smalls, a former Amazon employee turned workers’ rights advocate, said this pace includes scanning an item every seven seconds for a minimum of 400 items an hour and up to 5,000 products picked and packed per day. He agreed a 100% turnover rate is reasonable. “They hire and fire all year-round," he said. At the outset of the pandemic, Amazon hired 175,000 temporary workers. Existing hourly workers in the U.S. earned an extra $2 per hour through April 2020. What could change “People will be able to negotiate wages and benefits. They'll be able to negotiate working conditions. People know that they will not be fired in a discriminatory way. They will be able to stand up for what they think they need in the workplace," Appelbaum said of the benefits of a union. Regardless of the outcome, both Appelbaum and Smalls expect other warehouses to follow suit. Smalls said he has heard rumblings of union activity brewing at Amazon facilities in Florida and Iowa—and on Tuesday, he returned to his former warehouse in Staten Island, New York to encourage employees to unionize. The last time Amazon workers voted to unionize was in 2014, when 30 employees at a Delaware warehouse ultimately voted it down. Even if the union is voted down in Alabama, Appelbaum said they've already won. “We feel that this is just the start. We're not going to change Amazon with one election. But what we have done is we've gone further than anybody else has before. And we've opened the door.” Amazon Care Sets Its Sights on More Patients