Amazon.com Inc. tries to postpone a union vote at a warehouse in Alabama and asks federal labor authorities to reconsider a decision to allow postal voting due to the pandemic.
The company appealed on Thursday against a decision by the National Labor Relations Board, allowing a mail-in-lawsuit over Covid-19 risks in lieu of the personal elections typical of such union votes.
The ballots will be sent to approximately 6,000 employees associated with the Bessemer, Ala., Facility on February 8. In its petition, Amazon said the board’s decision was incorrect in part because it had not sufficiently defined an outbreak, among other objections.
Employees seek union representation for retail, wholesale and department stores. A majority of the votes cast would have to choose unionization in order to receive representation. Amazon hourly workers have never formed or joined a union in the US before
A spokeswoman for the retail, wholesale and department store union declined to comment. Amazon declined to comment on its appeal, but has said it believes the best approach to an election would be to keep it personal. the best interest of all parties: the convenience of the employees, the fidelity of votes and the timeliness of the number of votes. “