SEATTLE — The biggest challenge to Amazon’s workforce model comes 2,500 miles from Seattle.
Union leaders and community organizers in the Northwest are closely watching what will happen in suburban Alabama as a measure to unionize was put up for a vote. Ballots were mailed to some 5,800 workers at a fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama in early February, and results are expected at the end of March.
“If the workers who are in Alabama – who are 85% Black, majority female – are able to form a union in that warehouse, I think it will send shockwaves through the industry, through Amazon and beyond,” said Ty Moore of the Seattle Democratic Socialists of America.
Moore and his organization are among a growing group of Seattle organizations supporting Amazon employees in Bessemer as they push toward unionization.
Saturday was dubbed a “National Day of Solidarity” with rallies scheduled at Amazon facilities across the country. A march was planned at the Seattle headquarters but canceled at the last minute because organizers say they did not want to interfere with a vaccine distribution event happening nearby.
One of those Alabama Amazon employees testified in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. During a Senate budget committee hearing, Jennifer Bates described conditions as grueling.
“My workday feels like a nine-hour intense workout every day. And they track our every move,” said Bates.
Amazon’s taken a strong anti-union stance. They launched the campaign “Do It Without the Dues,” and this week, in a statement to KING 5, the company said it’s “proud to offer employees industry-leading pay…in a safe, modern work environment."
“I think here in Seattle, of course, the headquarters of Amazon, the home of Jeff Bezos, it’s particularly important that working people here – everybody of conscious here – stand up and say, ‘We stand with the workers of Alabama,’” Moore said.
If the unionization effort is successful, it would be a first for workers and mark new ground for the tech giant.