In a new interview with Yahoo Finance, U.S. Labor Secretary Marty Walsh suggested that the results of a historic union vote on an Amazon (AMZN) warehouse in Alabama are imminent. He also generally opposed anti-union “intimidation” amid concerns over a campaign by Amazon to dissuade workers from supporting the organizing movement.
“The situation at Amazon – let’s see what the result of the vote will be in the next few days,” said Walsh.
The National Labor Relations Board’s vote count started on Tuesday, but observers expected a lengthy process, as both sides – Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union (RWDSU) and Amazon – could exercise their right to challenge each of the thousands of votes based on eligibility or procedural issues.
Nearly 6,000 workers at the facilities in Bessemer, Alabama, were eligible to vote in the election, which pitted the nation’s second-largest private sector employer against labor advocates eager to reverse decades of union decline and gain a foothold in the growing technology sector. The postal voting started in early February and ended on Monday.
‘They should have the opportunity to be able to vote’
Even after the counting of votes ends, the dispute over the result can take months, through disputes in the labor council or in the courts.
In response to a question about Amazon’s anti-union campaign on the premises, Walsh told Yahoo Finance editor Andy Serwer: “There should be no intimidation when someone wants to join the union.”
“If workers feel they want a union, they should have the opportunity to be able to vote and put a union at their workplace,” he adds. “It’s how I feel.”
The comments echoed those made by President Joe Biden in a video last month, which warned employers against intimidation to dissuade workers from organizing a union. Although Biden did not mention the name of Amazon, his reference to “Alabama workers” was widely perceived as an allusion to the labor battle at the tech giant.
Amazon aggressively opposed the union campaign, hiring the same law firm – Morgan Lewis – that it did when it fought a union campaign in a Delaware warehouse in 2014. In addition, the company created a website that warns of onerous fee payments and the negative impact of a union on day-to-day operations.
In a statement to Yahoo Finance in February, Amazon defended its opposition to the union organization among employees in Alabama.
“The fact is, Amazon already offers what unions are demanding of employees: industry-leading compensation, comprehensive benefits from day one, career growth opportunities, all while working in a safe and secure work environment. modern ”, Amazon spokeswoman Maria Said Boschetti.
Walsh, who served as mayor of Boston for seven years before joining the Biden administration, is the former head of the Boston Metropolitan District Construction Trade Council, a union. He is the first union leader to act as Secretary of Labor in almost 45 years.
It represents a dramatic change from his predecessor Eugene Scalia, son of the late conservative Supreme Court judge, Antonin Scalia. Eugene Scalia, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, spent his time in the Labor Department weakening employee protections – so much so that a New Yorker profile described him as a “wrecking ball for workers”.
“Workers can take the opportunity to vote for a union; some workers can take the opportunity not to vote for a union, ”says Walsh. “But I think that anti-union rhetoric doesn’t really help.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Department of Labor oversees the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB is an independent federal agency.
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