The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will hold a hearing on May 7 to consider objections filed by the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), who alleges that Amazon illegally interfered in a highly publicized unionization vote earlier this month.
In April, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama voted not to unionize by a wide margin. According to the NLRB, just 738 workers voted to unionize compared to 1,798 workers who voted against unionization.
However, according to Insider, the RWDSU has submitted “nearly two dozen objections” to Amazon’s conduct during the election and claims the company’s actions prevented employees from making a “free and uncoerced exercise of choice” on unionizing.
RWDSU claims that Amazon retaliated against pro-union employees and threatened widespread layoffs and closure of the facility if the unionization effort won out. Amazon denies the claims.
According to Reuters, the NLRB says that the May 7 hearing could lead to overturning the election should the claims to prove to be true.
None of Amazon’s warehouses across the country employ unionized labor, and the push in Alabama was the closest any of the company’s warehouses have come to unionizing. Should the Bessemer warehouse’s unionization effort prove to be successful, it could open the door for more unionization at other warehouses throughout the country.
