Bessemer Amazon union election date set
Updated Feb 02, 2021;
Posted Jan 15, 2021
Sneak peek inside the new Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer. (Joe Songer | jsonger@al.com).Joe Songer | jsonger@al.com
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The National Labor Relations Board has set a date for a crucial vote on whether employees at Amazon’s Bessemer fulfillment center can form a union.
According to documents with the NLRB, workers will vote by mail, with ballots being sent out to employees on Feb. 8. Workers must return them by March 29. All employees who have worked four hours or more a week during the 13 weeks prior to the election are eligible to vote.
By Susan Lamont December 21, 2020
BESSEMER, Ala. “The managers talk to you like you’re a child,” Ray, a 31-year-old Amazon worker, told us when we met going door to door here Dec. 5. A former Walmart worker, he started working at the new Amazon fulfillment center when it opened in March. About two months ago a drive to win union recognition began, and since then hundreds of workers have signed authorization cards for the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union. “I signed a card,” Ray said.
Ray, and other Amazon workers we met, asked that we not use their last names for fear of retaliation by the bosses. Some 1,500 full-time and part-time workers are employed at the massive facility, not including the many managers and other company personnel.