The election allows approximately 6,000 employees at the company’s Bessemer, Alabama, facility to vote via post-in ballots starting Feb. 8, according to a National Labor Relations Board decision posted Friday.
Union pressure comes at a time when working conditions at Amazon’s warehouse during the pandemic have come under closer scrutiny. The company has hired hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide to meet the strong demand. A number of warehouse workers have spoken out about safety since the start of the pandemic.
While some Amazon employees in Europe are unionized, the company has so far fended off unions in the United States. In 2014, a union election was held at a warehouse in Delaware, but this resulted in workers largely rejecting the effort.
The possible union effect at Bessemer has been months in the making. Employees at the facility first filed a notice with NLRB in November regarding the holding of elections.
“Having a union at Amazon would give us the right to collectively negotiate our working conditions, including such things as safety standards, training, breaks, salary, benefits and other important things that would make our workplace better,” said a website. support. of uniting Amazon’s Bessemer workers.
Amazon did not immediately respond to CNN Business’s request for comment.
In a series of hearings with NLRB at the end of December, Amazon and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) agreed who could vote. The list includes a range of full-time, part-time, and seasonal handling agents on an hourly basis.
The NLRB wrote that it believes that holding the election by mail, as opposed to in person, as Amazon prefers, is “the safest and most appropriate method” given “the extraordinary circumstances of the Covid-19 pandemic”. .