Amazon is pushing for a personal milestone vote, despite the pandemic

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The e-commerce giant filed a motion on Thursday to postpone the union elections, which begin on Feb. 8, so that NLRB can make its decision to hold the elections by mail over the course of the nearly two-person event.

NLRB declined to comment on Amazon’s request.

The union vote is a milestone for the Alabama facility and for Amazon (AMZN). 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 NLRB said last week that the roughly 6,000 employees of the Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, would vote by mail, noting the health risks of the pandemic.

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“An election of the ballot by mail will free up employees who cannot enter the voting site for health reasons or because of positive COVID tests,” the NLRB decision said. “In addition, a postal election will protect the health and safety of voters, Agency staff, representatives of the parties and the public during the current health crisis.”

However, in the files this week, Amazon said that the NLRB decision on its election does not specify what is considered an “outbreak.” Amazon said NLRB acting regional director Lisa Henderson “came to the remarkable conclusion that any level of infection or potential infection among employees counts as an ‘outbreak’.”

Amazon said that 2.88% of Amazon’s 7,575 and remote workers at the facility – or 218 people – at the Bessemer plant tested positive during the 14-day period ending Jan. 7. Amazon rejected the idea that this could have been considered an outbreak.

“ If true, facilities will be in a constant state of ‘outbreak’ unless and until the virus nearly clears up, with no manual elections taking place until that unknown time, ” the filing read, also citing that a postal election “ could deprive dozens of people of their right to vote. hundreds of voters “because it is imperfect.

In the NLRB’s decision last week, Henderson noted that Jefferson County, where the facility is located, had a positivity rate of more than 17% on Jan. 11, citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The NLRB said in November that a mail-in election would “normally be appropriate” if the number of confirmed cases in the county increases, or if it is 5% or more. In its filing, Amazon said this decision “reflected assumptions developed relatively earlier during the pandemic.”

In a statement to CNN Business, Amazon spokesperson Heather Knox said the company believes that “ the best approach to a valid, fair and successful election is one that is done manually, in person, making it easy for employees to verify and their vote close to their workplace. ”

“Amazon has made NLRB a secure, confidential and convenient proposal for employees to vote on the spot, which is in the best interest of all parties – employee convenience, fidelity of votes and timeliness of votes” Knox said in the statement. “We will continue to push for fair election measures, and we want everyone to vote, so our focus is to make sure that is possible.

The union pressure comes as working conditions at Amazon’s warehouse have been more closely scrutinized during the pandemic. The company has hired hundreds of thousands of employees worldwide to support rising demand. A number of warehouse workers have spoken out about safety since the start of the pandemic.
Employees at the facility first filed a notice with NLRB in November about holding an election to associate with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
“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 ter support. of uniting Amazon’s Bessemer workers.

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