By Sebastian Herrera
Amazon.com Inc. employees in Alabama who sided against
unionization said they had broad concerns about job security and
grew convinced that their pay and benefits might not markedly
increase with the help of a union.
The resounding victory for Amazon, the nation's second-largest
private employer, came after it organized what proved to be a
successful local campaign, highlighting the company's strengths and
questioning the union's benefits. Nationally, Amazon grew vocal in
pushing back against criticism about its workplace conditions,
including when a top executive engaged in disputes with members of
Congress on Twitter.
Analysts say the defeat of unionization will strengthen Amazon
after what has already been a year of tremendous growth and success
fueled by the pandemic. The tech giant's revenue last year soared
38% to $386 billion, and its profit nearly doubled, as it added
500,000 people to its global workforce.
Some workers said Amazon helped steer their vote against
unionization. Other employees said they didn't need convincing by
Amazon and were against unionizing from the start.
Amazon pointed to its minimum wage of $15 an hour, double the
state's minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which is also the federal
minimum. The company also highlighted its healthcare and retirement
benefits.
Workers said they were wary of the cost of union dues and not
persuaded that the union would be able to add significantly to
their pay or improve benefits. In the end, less than 16% of the
facility's total workforce voted to join the Retail, Wholesale and
Department Store Union.
"I work hard for my money, and I don't want any of it going to a
union that maybe can get us more pay, or maybe can get us longer
breaks," said Melissa Charlton Myers, a 41-year-old employee at the
Bessemer, Ala., facility that voted on unionization. "It's not
worth the risk."
In company meetings, which some employees described as
mandatory, Amazon gave them details about other contracts the RWDSU
had negotiated on behalf of employees in other industries. The
bargaining agreements that Amazon showed employees didn't seem to
indicate that there would be a substantial difference, said Cori
Jennings, 40, another worker who voted against unionization.
The union has cited U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data that
show union members on average earning more than nonunion
members.
In a news conference Amazon organized Friday, some workers who
sided against unionizing said they still sought changes at the
facility, such as added training for managers. However, the workers
said, they believed they could resolve issues with the company
without a third party.
Also playing a role were fears about possible repercussions of
forming a union, including the possibility that Amazon would shut
down the facility if they decided to unionize, some employees said.
Others worried the company would nix plans for two other facilities
it had announced last year that it plans to open in a nearby
area.
Amazon declined to comment.
Pro-union workers said they wanted more say over break times,
how they are monitored by the company and the rate at which they
are expected to sort and move packages. The union is expected to
appeal the vote.
Iwan Barankay, a labor economist at the University of
Pennsylvania, said while unionizing efforts can be popular among
employees at the start of drives, the messages from companies over
time can wear on employees -- especially if it threatens their
livelihood.
"The location of this plant plays a role," Mr. Barankay said.
Alabama has many low-income residents, "and other opportunities are
not so readily available. These people might really feel the
difficulty of living through a pandemic."
The union vote removes one major challenge for Amazon, though
others loom.
Late last year, a congressional panel asserted that Amazon has
amassed "monopoly power" over sellers on its site, bullied retail
partners and improperly used seller data to compete with rivals.
Amazon said at the time that "large companies are not dominant by
definition, and the presumption that success can only be the result
of anti-competitive behavior is simply wrong."
Congress is now considering the most significant changes to
antitrust law in decades, including proposals that would make it
easier for the government to challenge anticompetitive behavior or
force tech giants to separate lines of business.
This week, meanwhile, merchant groups announced a national
coalition to campaign for stricter antitrust laws. The effort adds
to state and federal investigations and lawsuits Amazon has faced
over its power and workplace conditions. Amazon has said its
business model has benefited both consumers and the millions of
independent sellers that sell on its site.
Amazon isn't finished confronting labor battles. As
ballot-processing took place in the Bessemer election, a small
number of employees held a protest at a Chicago facility over
working conditions. Workers in Europe recently went on strike over
similar issues, and the National Labor Relations Board during the
past year has found the company at fault on multiple occasions of
retaliating against workers who have spoken out on different
issues. Amazon has said disciplinary measures with workers are due
to violations of workplace policies. The company has said the
Chicago protest didn't disrupt its operations.
Still, Amazon's victory in the election gives the company
flexibility in running its warehouse, said Sucharita Kodali, an
e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research Inc. "They want to be able
to make changes quickly and as they see fit" without disruption,
she said.
As voting wrapped up in Bessemer, Amazon and its executives
became more vocal. Dave Clark, chief executive of Worldwide
Consumer, published tweets taking aim at Independent Sen. Bernie
Sanders of Vermont, a frequent Amazon critic who supported
unionization in Bessemer and called CEO Jeff Bezos greedy.
"I often say we are the Bernie Sanders of employers, but that's
not quite right because we actually deliver a progressive
workplace," Mr. Clark tweeted on March 24, referring to Amazon's
$15 minimum wage being higher than Vermont's $11.75 per-hour wage.
President Biden and celebrities such as the actor Danny Glover had
joined Mr. Sanders in supporting the Alabama workers.
"All I want to know is why the richest man in the world, Jeff
Bezos, is spending millions trying to prevent workers from
organizing," Mr. Sanders responded on Twitter the same day.
Amazon's news account similarly tweeted defenses of the company.
Some of them backfired. The company apologized after publishing a
tweet on March 24 by its news account that it said incorrectly
challenged accounts of workers having to at times urinate in
bottles because of Amazon's demanding schedule to deliver
packages.
Write to Sebastian Herrera at Sebastian.Herrera@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 10, 2021 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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