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A federal official has recommended overturning the results of a union election at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in Alabama, giving the retail union an opportunity to reverse its defeat, according to people familiar with the issue.
After losing the election in April, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union appealed the outcome to the National Labor Relations Board, setting in motion a contentious hearing in May that was presided over by NLRB hearing officer Kerstin Myers.
The union has accused Amazon of making anti-union threats, firing an employee for distributing union cards and pressuring workers to cast their votes in a mailbox the company had installed in a tent on its property, in view of surveillance cameras. Amazon denied any wrongdoing.
BBC News
By James Clayton
image sourceReuters
An official examining a landmark Amazon union election in Bessemer, Alabama, has recommended a rerun.
The officer, from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), had been looking into the legitimacy of April s vote.
Amazon appeared to have stopped a union from forming, winning a vote on the issue by a margin of two to one.
However the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) alleged that Amazon had illegally pressured its workers.
The NLRB has the power to force a rerun.
Stuart Appelbaum, President of the RWDSU, said: Amazon s behaviour throughout the election process was despicable.
New Vote Recommended In US Amazon Union Election
08/03/21 AT 12:16 AM
A US labor official has recommended the results be nullified in a failed vote to unionize Amazon workers at an Alabama warehouse, the union in the effort said Monday, opening a possible path to a new election.
The recommendation by a hearing officer is a key step in potentially overturning the April ballot, which aimed to create the first union at a US-based Amazon facility but which the union alleges was tainted by the company s interference.
US labor watchdog the National Labor Relations Board would need to give its approval for the proposal to take effect.
Amazon warehouse workers reject union proposal, may vote again
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), had said Amazon illegally threatened staff with reduced benefits and compromised the election s integrity via a ballot collection box it secured outside the warehouse Amazon said it planned to appeal (Source: Reuters) Reuters
Updated Aug 03, 2021, 7:57 AM IST
A U.S. labor board official has recommended a rerun of a landmark Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) union election in Alabama where employees had voted overwhelmingly against making their warehouse the online retailer s first to organize in the United States.
In the coming weeks, a regional director for the U.S. National Labor Relations Board will decide whether to order the rerun based on this recommendation, said an official on Monday with the board who asked not to be named.
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The recommendation by the NLRB hearing officer is a critical step in a process that could lead to a new vote to supplant the results of the one held in April. The findings will be reviewed by a regional NLRB director overseeing the case, who could make a final decision in a matter of weeks.
Both Amazon and the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union, which ran the unionization campaign in Bessemer, Ala., may file responses to the recommendation from Kerstin Meyers, the NLRB official who heard testimony from workers during an appeal hearing in May.
The NLRB hadn’t made Ms. Meyers’ recommendation public as of late Monday afternoon. An NLRB spokesman said the agency was looking into the matter. The board lists filings on its website, but they often have to pass through Freedom of Information Act requests to be released.