Regional Labor Office overturns Amazon union vote in Alabama

A regional office of the  National Labor Relations Board ordered a new union election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama on Monday, upholding a union challenge to a vote that the company had won decisively. The decision was widely expected after a hearing officer recommended in August that the results had to be thrown out and a new election takes place. 

After the August decision, Amazon declared that it intended to appeal to the labor board in Washington if it did not prevail at the regional level, but it did not say Monday whether it would follow through. Nearly half of the 6,000 eligible workers at the warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama cast their ballots by mail in February and March on whether they wanted to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The tally against the unionization bid was two to one.

The union filed an objection to this vote after the results were announced in April and argued that Amazon had undermined the conditions for a fair election by pressing the Postal Service to install a collection box at the warehouse, among other complaints. The union also argued that the box was not authorized by the labor board and it created the impression that Amazon was monitoring which of the workers voted.

Source: The New York Times