Amazon workers in Alabama will have third labor union vote after judge finds illegal influence

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Amazon workers in Alabama will decide for the third time in three years whether to unionize after a federal judge ruled that the retail giant improperly influenced the most recent vote in which employees rejected a union.

Administrative law judge Michael Silverstein on Tuesday ordered the third vote for Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Birmingham, after determining that Amazon committed six violations leading up to the second election in March 2022.

Amazon managers surveilled employees' union activities and threatened workers with plant closure if they voted with the union, Silverstein said in an 87-page decision. Amazon managers also removed pro-union materials from areas where anti-union materials were available, the judge determined.

The National Labor Relations Board also found improper interference in the first election in 2021, leading to the redo in 2022.

Silverstein’s decision comes after months of testimony and is the latest development in a nationwide legal battle involving Amazon, the National Labor Relations Board and unions spearheading unionization efforts. Some states, like California, have fined the mega retailer for labor violations.

Both Amazon and the union that organized the vote in Bessemer said that they would appeal the judge's order.

The president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Stuart Appelbaum, affirmed the court's findings that Amazon broke labor laws.

But he also said that he believed Amazon was likely to commit similar violations in a third election if the court did not order “significant and meaningful remedies” to protect the vote.

Specifically, the union requested access to private meetings between Amazon representatives and workers, as well as training for Amazon supervisors on labor laws. The judge declined those requests.

“The record reveals that there are over a hundred managers at BHM1, but my findings of unfair labor practices are limited to four managers, who each committed isolated unfair labor practice,” the judge ruled, referring to the Bessemer facility.

Appelbaum said that the union would appeal that decision.

“Amazon must be held accountable, and we’ll be filing accordingly,” Appelbaum said.

Mary Kate Paradis, a spokesperson for Amazon, said the company vehemently disagreed with the court’s ruling and indicated that there would be an appeal.

“Our team at BHM1 has already made their choice clear, twice that they don’t want a Union. This decision is wrong on the facts and the law,” Paradis said in a statement. “It’s disappointing that the NLRB and RWDSU keep trying to force a third vote instead of accepting the facts and the will of our team members.”

With approximately 6,000 employees, Bessemer in 2021 became the largest U.S. facility to vote on unionization in Amazon's over 20-year history. Since then, similar battles have ensued at Amazon facilities across the country.

Workers in Staten Island, New York, successfully voted to unionize in 2022, becoming the first Amazon union in the U.S. But the union has yet to begin bargaining with Amazon amidst legal challenges from the country's second largest employer.

The bid to unionize in Bessemer in particular was always viewed as an uphill battle: Alabama is one of 27 “right-to-work” states where workers don’t have to pay dues to unions that represent them.

Amazon’s sprawling fulfillment center in Bessemer opened in 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic began. The city is more than 70% Black, with about a quarter of its residents living in poverty, according to the United States Census.

A vote will likely be delayed until after the court hears anticipated appeals from both parties.

___ Riddle is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.