Amazon tries to stave off union drive on two fronts

[Omaha Steve]

FILE - People arrive for work at the Amazon distribution center in the Staten Island borough of New York, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. Amazon is gearing up for its toughest labor fight yet, with two separate union elections coming to a head as soon as next week that could provide further momentum to the recent wave of organizing efforts across the country. Warehouse workers in Staten Island, N.Y., and Bessemer, Ala., will determine whether or not they want to form a union. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File)

Amazon is gearing up for its toughest labor fight yet, with two separate union elections coming to a head as soon as next week that could provide further momentum to the recent wave of organizing efforts across the country.

Warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, and Bessemer, Alabama, will determine whether or not they want to form a union. If a majority votes yes at either location, it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in Amazon history. Rejection would notch another victory for the country’s second-largest employer in keeping unions at bay.

Here’s what the elections will look like in Bessemer and Staten Island:

THE VOTING

Last April, workers in Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against a union bid, providing a bitter defeat for a labor movement that had already been declining in influence but making some gains during the pandemic. Federal labor officials later scrapped the results and ordered a re-do, ruling Amazon tainted the election process.

FULL story: https://apnews.com/article/covid-technology-health-business-staten-island-195852fa3aa794dca421788b9a2f274e