Amazon is reportedly trying to ban Alabama warehouse workers from participating in a ballot union vote in the mail.
What is the background?
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a significant portion of American voters participated in the 2020 election by voting by mail. In fact, data from the Pew Research Center found that almost half of American voters – 46% – voted as absent or by mail.
Democrats strongly pressured voting by mail, probably because postal ballots would allow more voters to participate in the electoral process. Republicans, however, generally opposed voting by mail, arguing that conducting a large part of the election by mail potentially increased the potential that electoral fraud could harm electoral integrity.
What’s going on with Amazon?
Amazon filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board on Thursday over the agency’s decision to allow nearly 6,000 employees working at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse to participate in the union election by means of ballots.
Instead, Amazon wants the election to be held in person.
From the Washington Post:
Amazon argued in one of the two documents that the agency’s pandemic voting policy is flawed, in part because it fails to define what a covid-19 “outbreak” really is. This guidance “reflected assumptions developed comparatively early in the pandemic – before scientific understanding of the virus and possible precautions had reached the point it is today,” says Amazon in the process.
In fact, Lisa Henderson, the acting regional director for the NLRB office in Atlanta, told Amazon that requiring the unionization vote to be conducted in person “can deprive voters who have accepted 19 or are concerned about contracting the disease,” reported the Post.
“A postal election will release employees who are unable to enter the polling place for health reasons or due to positive COVID tests,” said the NLRB decision, CNN reported. “In addition, an election by ballot by mail will protect the health and safety of voters, Agency staff, party representatives and the public during the current health crisis.”
What did Amazon say?
Amazon spokeswoman Heather Knox told CNN in a statement that Amazon is fighting for a personal election because it is “the best approach to a valid, fair and successful election is one conducted manually, personally, making it easier for associates to check and vote in the vicinity of their workplace. “
Bessemer’s employees’ effort to unionize is the first of Amazon’s employees in seven years.