PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images(NEW YORK) It was dubbed a watershed moment for the withering organized labor movement when the first-ever union election at an Amazon warehouse took place last spring in Alabama. Workers seeking collective bargaining rights at a fulfillment outpost of the e-commerce giant in Bessemer a rural, predominantly Black suburb of Birmingham garnered international headlines and even backing from the White House ahead of last year's landmark vote. Despite the high-profile support, hopes of forming Amazon's first labor union were ultimately crushed last year when less than 16% of some 5,000 eligible workers voted in favor it, per the National Labor Relations Board's tally. The saga in the South, however, did not end there for the nation's second-largest employer. After objections alleging union-busting conduct from Amazon filed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which sought to represent the workers, the NLRB order
The NLRB ruling is the latest effort by the Biden administration to install a union at Amazon, which can be relied on to contain worker unrest in this critical industry.