The President of the United States, Joe Biden, makes comments before signing an executive order, aiming to address a global shortage of semiconductor chips, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, February 24, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
Without specifically naming Amazon, President Joe Biden on Sunday expressed support for a closely watched union vote in one of the retail giant’s warehouses in Alabama, calling it “vitally important”.
“Today and in the coming days and weeks, workers in Alabama and across America are voting on organizing a union at their workplace,” said Biden in a video shared on his Twitter page. “This is vitally important – a vitally important choice, as the United States struggles with the deadly pandemic, the economic crisis and racial calculation – what it reveals are the profound disparities that still exist in our country.”
Earlier this month, some 6,000 workers at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, began voting by mail about joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, starting the first major union effort within the company since 2014. Last November, Alabama facility workers notified the NLRB of their plans to hold a vote to decide whether they would be represented by the RWDSU.
The ballots were sent to employees on February 8 and must be received by the National Labor Relations Board regional office by March 29. Counting will start the next day.
The union effort in Alabama emerged as a protracted labor battle at Amazon, with the company hiring the same law firm that used to assist in negotiations during a failed union campaign in Delaware in 2014. Amazon also made its position on the union campaign clear. to workers at Bessemer’s facilities, holding mandatory meetings, creating a website that urges workers to “do it for free” and, according to Vice’s recent report, handing out leaflets instructing workers to “Vote NO” in the historic election .
In addition, Amazon tried to postpone the union election and pushed for a personal election, which the NLRB denied.
In the video, Biden said that “it is up to the workers, period” to decide whether they want to join a union. He also discouraged employers from interfering in union elections.
“There should be no intimidation, coercion, threats, anti-union propaganda,” said Biden. “No supervisor should confront employees about their union preferences.
“You know, every worker must have a free and fair choice to join a union … no employer can withdraw that immediately. So make your voice heard,” he added.
During the campaign, Biden made promises to be “the most pro-union president”. He also made worker training a key principle of his labor agenda.
In a statement, union president Stuart Applebaum thanked Biden for showing his support for the union movement.
“As President Biden points out, the best way for workers to protect themselves and their families is to organize themselves into unions,” said Applebaum in a statement. “And that is why so many working women and men are fighting for a union at Amazon’s facilities in Bessemer, Alabama.”