Madison coordinators rallied Sunday to show fortitude for the laborers who voted yes when Amazon warehouse laborers in Alabama voted to unionize recently.
Laborers from a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama voted on weather to be the organizations first group of unionized representatives. The votes that were depended on Friday said that there would be no union would form.
“Amazon did not win this election fair and square, they pulled out every trick in the book,” said Socialist Alternative organizer Jacob Druker.
There have been reports from laborers that they needed to go to compulsory meetings intended to persuade them to vote against the union leading up to the Vote, and that Amazon hung up anti-union posters in the warehouse.
While speaking to the Madison rally, Our Wisconsin Revolution coordinator, Ashley Hudson, said, “They managed to get the Bessemer ‘public police’ — as-in paid for by our tax dollars– to function as private security to intimidate the workers.”
Just about half of the warehouse workers voted in the union election.
“That doesn’t mean the workers love Amazon, what it means is that Amazon played dirty, and because of that they won,” Druker said.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union the workers were voting to join said they will file a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board.
Amazon believes that its workers voiced their clear desire not to unionize in their votes.
“The objective conditions that Covid has caused with more exploitation and worse inequality than ever are making people angry, making them frustrated, making them desperate, and they are ready to look to solutions that they might not have considered before like unionizing,” Druker said.