The resounding victory for Amazon, the nation's
second-largest private employer, came after it organized what proved to be a
successful local campaign, highlighting the company's strengths and questioning
the union's benefits. Nationally, Amazon grew vocal in pushing back against
criticism about its workplace conditions, including when a top executive
engaged in disputes with members of Congress on Twitter.
Analysts say the defeat of unionization will strengthen
Amazon after what has already been a year of tremendous growth and success
fueled by the pandemic. The tech giant's revenue last year soared 38% to $386
billion, and its profit nearly doubled, as it added 500,000 people to its
global workforce.
Some workers said Amazon helped steer their vote against
unionization. Other employees said they didn't need convincing by Amazon and
were against unionizing from the start.
Amazon pointed to its minimum wage of $15 an hour, double
the state's minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which is also the federal minimum.
The company also highlighted its healthcare and retirement benefits.
Workers said they were wary of the cost of union dues and
not persuaded that the union would be able to add significantly to their pay or
improve benefits. In the end, less than 16% of the facility's total workforce
voted to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
"I work hard for my money, and I don't want any of it
going to a union that maybe can get us more pay, or maybe can get us longer
breaks," said Melissa Charlton Myers, a 41-year-old employee at the
Bessemer, Ala., facility that voted on unionization. "It's not worth the
risk."
In company meetings, which some employees described as
mandatory, Amazon gave them details about other contracts the RWDSU had
negotiated on behalf of employees in other industries. The bargaining
agreements that Amazon showed employees didn't seem to indicate that there
would be a substantial difference, said Cori Jennings, 40, another worker who
voted against unionization.
The union has cited U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data
that show union members on average earning more than nonunion members.
In a news conference Amazon organized Friday, some workers
who sided against unionizing said they still sought changes at the facility,
such as added training for managers. However, the workers said, they believed
they could resolve issues with the company without a third party.
Also playing a role were fears about possible repercussions
of forming a union, including the possibility that Amazon would shut down the
facility if they decided to unionize, some employees said. Others worried the
company would nix plans for two other facilities it had announced last year
that it plans to open in a nearby area.
Amazon declined to comment.
Pro-union workers said they wanted more say over break
times, how they are monitored by the company and the rate at which they are
expected to sort and move packages. The union is expected to appeal the vote.
Iwan Barankay, a labor economist at the University of
Pennsylvania, said while unionizing efforts can be popular among employees at
the start of drives, the messages from companies over time can wear on
employees -- especially if it threatens their livelihood.
"The location of this plant plays a role," Mr.
Barankay said. Alabama has many low-income residents, "and other
opportunities are not so readily available. These people might really feel the
difficulty of living through a pandemic."
The union vote removes one major challenge for Amazon,
though others loom.
Late last year, a congressional panel asserted that Amazon
has amassed "monopoly power" over sellers on its site, bullied retail
partners and improperly used seller data to compete with rivals. Amazon said at
the time that "large companies are not dominant by definition, and the
presumption that success can only be the result of anti-competitive behavior is
simply wrong."
Congress is now considering the most significant changes to
antitrust law in decades, including proposals that would make it easier for the
government to challenge anticompetitive behavior or force tech giants to
separate lines of business.
This week, meanwhile, merchant groups announced a national
coalition to campaign for stricter antitrust laws. The effort adds to state and
federal investigations and lawsuits Amazon has faced over its power and
workplace conditions. Amazon has said its business model has benefited both
consumers and the millions of independent sellers that sell on its site.
Amazon isn't finished confronting labor battles. As
ballot-processing took place in the Bessemer election, a small number of
employees held a protest at a Chicago facility over working conditions. Workers
in Europe recently went on strike over similar issues, and the National Labor
Relations Board during the past year has found the company at fault on multiple
occasions of retaliating against workers who have spoken out on different
issues. Amazon has said disciplinary measures with workers are due to
violations of workplace policies. The company has said the Chicago protest
didn't disrupt its operations.
Still, Amazon's victory in the election gives the company
flexibility in running its warehouse, said Sucharita Kodali, an e-commerce
analyst at Forrester Research Inc. "They want to be able to make changes
quickly and as they see fit" without disruption, she said.
As voting wrapped up in Bessemer, Amazon and its executives
became more vocal. Dave Clark, chief executive of Worldwide Consumer, published
tweets taking aim at Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a frequent
Amazon critic who supported unionization in Bessemer and called CEO Jeff Bezos
greedy.
"I often say we are the Bernie Sanders of employers,
but that's not quite right because we actually deliver a progressive
workplace," Mr. Clark tweeted on March 24, referring to Amazon's $15
minimum wage being higher than Vermont's $11.75 per-hour wage. President Biden
and celebrities such as the actor Danny Glover had joined Mr. Sanders in
supporting the Alabama workers.
"All I want to know is why the richest man in the
world, Jeff Bezos, is spending millions trying to prevent workers from organizing,"
Mr. Sanders responded on Twitter the same day.
Amazon's news account similarly tweeted defenses of the
company. Some of them backfired. The company apologized after publishing a
tweet on March 24 by its news account that it said incorrectly challenged
accounts of workers having to at times urinate in bottles because of Amazon's
demanding schedule to deliver packages. -Foxbusiness
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