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{{External article cleanup|date=November 2021}}
{{External article cleanup|date=November 2021}}
The warehouse workers of [[Amazon.com, Inc.|Amazon]], the largest Statesian e-commerce retailer, have sought to establish unions to demand workplace improvements in light of the company's scrutinized labor practices and stance against [[Trade union|unions]]. While some Amazon warehouses are unionized in Europe, none are unionized in the United States. Worker actions have included work stoppages and have won concessions including increased pay, safety precautions, and time off.
The warehouse workers of [[Amazon.com, Inc.|Amazon]], the largest American e-commerce retailer, have sought to establish unions to demand workplace improvements in light of the company's scrutinized labor practices and stance against [[Trade union|unions]]. While some Amazon warehouses are unionized in Europe, none are unionized in the United States. Worker actions have included work stoppages and have won concessions including increased pay, safety precautions, and time off.


==Background==
==Background==
As the second-largest Statesian employer and the largest Statesian e-commerce retailer with over one million workers and rapidly expanding, Amazon's warehouse labor practices have been subject to continued scrutiny, including reporting on [[work conditions]], rising injury rates, worker surveillance, and efforts to block unionization.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Colin Lecher|newspaper=The Markup|title=Amazon's 2020 Was a Banner Year for Profits—and for Criticism|date=2020-12-29|url=https://themarkup.org/2020-in-review/2020/12/29/amazons-2020-was-a-banner-year-for-profits-and-for-criticism|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20221206081711/https://themarkup.org/2020-in-review/2020/12/29/amazons-2020-was-a-banner-year-for-profits-and-for-criticism|archive-date=2022-12-06}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Casey Newton|newspaper=The Verge|title=Amazon's poor treatment of workers is catching up to it during the coronavirus crisis|date=2020-04-01|url=https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/4/1/21201162/amazon-delivery-delays-coronavirus-worker-strikes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224124257/https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/4/1/21201162/amazon-delivery-delays-coronavirus-worker-strikes|archive-date=2020-12-24|retrieved=2020-12-31}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Louise Matsakis|newspaper=Wired|title=Why Amazon Really Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15|date=2018-10-02|url=https://www.wired.com/story/why-amazon-really-raised-minimum-wage/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107132255/https://www.wired.com/story/why-amazon-really-raised-minimum-wage/|archive-date=2021-01-07|retrieved=2020-12-31|quote=Making hiring matters worse for Amazon is the fact that it has faced a steady onslaught of bad press in recent months about its labor practices both in the US and beyond.}}</ref> In the late 2010s, Amazon began to address warehouse wages and training opportunities.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Dana Mattioli, Sebastian Herrera|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|title=Amazon Struggles to Find Its Coronavirus Footing. 'It's a Time of Great Stress.'|date=2020-03-21|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-struggles-to-find-its-coronavirus-footing-its-a-time-of-great-stress-11585664987|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101113456/https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-struggles-to-find-its-coronavirus-footing-its-a-time-of-great-stress-11585664987|archive-date=2021-01-01|retrieved=2020-12-31|quote=Amazon, which is responsible for more than one-third of e-commerce volumes in the U.S., has long faced complaints from warehouse workers about working conditions and their position in the employee hierarchy. The company, which is the nation's second-largest employer, in recent years has taken steps to boost hourly wages and improve employee-training opportunities.}}</ref> Despite increasing its [[minimum wage in the United States|minimum wage]] to $15/hour, providing healthcare benefits and [[COVID-19]] testing, labor advocates and government officials have criticized Amazon's warehouse working conditions. While unions are common among Amazon warehouse workers in Europe, none of Amazon's Statesian workers are unionized.  Amazon has actively opposed unionization in the United States, having stated a preference to resolve issues with employees directly, asserting that unions would impede the company's innovation. Prior to the 2020 Bessemer union drive, Amazon had not faced a major union vote in the United States since Delaware in 2014.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Annie Palmer|newspaper=[[CNBC]]|title=Amazon moves closer to facing its first unionization vote in six years|date=2020-12-22|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/22/amazon-moves-closer-to-facing-its-first-unionization-vote-in-six-years.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101060550/https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/22/amazon-moves-closer-to-facing-its-first-unionization-vote-in-six-years.html|archive-date=2021-01-01|retrieved=2020-12-31}}</ref>
As the second-largest American employer and the largest American e-commerce retailer with over one million workers and rapidly expanding, Amazon's warehouse labor practices have been subject to continued scrutiny, including reporting on [[work conditions]], rising injury rates, worker surveillance, and efforts to block unionization.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Colin Lecher|newspaper=The Markup|title=Amazon's 2020 Was a Banner Year for Profits—and for Criticism|date=2020-12-29|url=https://themarkup.org/2020-in-review/2020/12/29/amazons-2020-was-a-banner-year-for-profits-and-for-criticism|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20221206081711/https://themarkup.org/2020-in-review/2020/12/29/amazons-2020-was-a-banner-year-for-profits-and-for-criticism|archive-date=2022-12-06}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Casey Newton|newspaper=The Verge|title=Amazon's poor treatment of workers is catching up to it during the coronavirus crisis|date=2020-04-01|url=https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/4/1/21201162/amazon-delivery-delays-coronavirus-worker-strikes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201224124257/https://www.theverge.com/interface/2020/4/1/21201162/amazon-delivery-delays-coronavirus-worker-strikes|archive-date=2020-12-24|retrieved=2020-12-31}}</ref><ref>{{Web citation|author=Louise Matsakis|newspaper=Wired|title=Why Amazon Really Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15|date=2018-10-02|url=https://www.wired.com/story/why-amazon-really-raised-minimum-wage/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107132255/https://www.wired.com/story/why-amazon-really-raised-minimum-wage/|archive-date=2021-01-07|retrieved=2020-12-31|quote=Making hiring matters worse for Amazon is the fact that it has faced a steady onslaught of bad press in recent months about its labor practices both in the US and beyond.}}</ref> In the late 2010s, Amazon began to address warehouse wages and training opportunities.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Dana Mattioli, Sebastian Herrera|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|title=Amazon Struggles to Find Its Coronavirus Footing. 'It's a Time of Great Stress.'|date=2020-03-21|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-struggles-to-find-its-coronavirus-footing-its-a-time-of-great-stress-11585664987|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101113456/https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-struggles-to-find-its-coronavirus-footing-its-a-time-of-great-stress-11585664987|archive-date=2021-01-01|retrieved=2020-12-31|quote=Amazon, which is responsible for more than one-third of e-commerce volumes in the U.S., has long faced complaints from warehouse workers about working conditions and their position in the employee hierarchy. The company, which is the nation's second-largest employer, in recent years has taken steps to boost hourly wages and improve employee-training opportunities.}}</ref> Despite increasing its [[minimum wage in the United States|minimum wage]] to $15/hour, providing healthcare benefits and [[COVID-19]] testing, labor advocates and government officials have criticized Amazon's warehouse working conditions. While unions are common among Amazon warehouse workers in Europe, none of Amazon's American workers are unionized.  Amazon has actively opposed unionization in the United States, having stated a preference to resolve issues with employees directly, asserting that unions would impede the company's innovation. Prior to the 2020 Bessemer union drive, Amazon had not faced a major union vote in the United States since Delaware in 2014.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Annie Palmer|newspaper=[[CNBC]]|title=Amazon moves closer to facing its first unionization vote in six years|date=2020-12-22|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/22/amazon-moves-closer-to-facing-its-first-unionization-vote-in-six-years.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101060550/https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/22/amazon-moves-closer-to-facing-its-first-unionization-vote-in-six-years.html|archive-date=2021-01-01|retrieved=2020-12-31}}</ref>


==United States==
==United States==
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Amazon opened a fulfillment warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, in March 2020. Within several months, workers began organizing to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Bessemer warehouse workers filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in November to hold a unionization vote. The bargaining unit was originally proposed as 1,500 full-time and part-time employees.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Jay Greene |title=Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama file to hold unionization vote |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=2020-11-23 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/23/amazon-warehouse-workers-union/ |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286  |retrieved=2020-11-26 |archive-date=2020-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126181808/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/23/amazon-warehouse-workers-union/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The workers, who are 85% Black, were inspired by the [[Black Lives Matter]] movement.<ref>{{Web citation |title=A union takes on a retail Goliath |newspaper=The Week |date=2021-03-07 |url=https://theweek.com/articles/970251/union-takes-retail-goliath |language=en |retrieved=March 21, 2021  |archive-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316084333/https://theweek.com/articles/970251/union-takes-retail-goliath |url-status=live }}</ref> Amazon fought the effort hard. The company retained anti-union lawyers [[Morgan, Lewis & Bockius]], the same firm Amazon used to successfully fight the Delaware warehouse unionization effort in 2014.<ref name="WaPo: early defeat">{{Web citation |author=Jay Greene |title=Amazon effort to thwart Alabama union drive suffers early defeat at labor board |work= |date=2020-12-02 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/02/amazon-union-vote-hearing/ |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286  |retrieved=2020-12-06 |archive-date=2020-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206082941/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/02/amazon-union-vote-hearing/ |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> The NLRB denied the company's request to delay initial hearings. Amazon recommended expanding the bargaining unit to 5,700 workers, and in a three-day NLRB hearing, lawyers from Amazon and the union established a broader bargaining unit membership than originally proposed, including seasonal hires and on-site medical, safety, and training workers. These were common tactics to [[union busting|discourage unionization]], as a larger bargaining unit would dilute the union's penetration, having only organized a portion of the originally proposed, smaller unit. The union accepted the expanded unit to let the vote proceed sooner. During the drive, Amazon held mandatory meetings to hear the company's anti-union position and hung signage to discourage unionization.
Amazon opened a fulfillment warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, in March 2020. Within several months, workers began organizing to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Bessemer warehouse workers filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in November to hold a unionization vote. The bargaining unit was originally proposed as 1,500 full-time and part-time employees.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Jay Greene |title=Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama file to hold unionization vote |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=2020-11-23 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/23/amazon-warehouse-workers-union/ |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286  |retrieved=2020-11-26 |archive-date=2020-11-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126181808/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/11/23/amazon-warehouse-workers-union/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The workers, who are 85% Black, were inspired by the [[Black Lives Matter]] movement.<ref>{{Web citation |title=A union takes on a retail Goliath |newspaper=The Week |date=2021-03-07 |url=https://theweek.com/articles/970251/union-takes-retail-goliath |language=en |retrieved=March 21, 2021  |archive-date=March 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316084333/https://theweek.com/articles/970251/union-takes-retail-goliath |url-status=live }}</ref> Amazon fought the effort hard. The company retained anti-union lawyers [[Morgan, Lewis & Bockius]], the same firm Amazon used to successfully fight the Delaware warehouse unionization effort in 2014.<ref name="WaPo: early defeat">{{Web citation |author=Jay Greene |title=Amazon effort to thwart Alabama union drive suffers early defeat at labor board |work= |date=2020-12-02 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/02/amazon-union-vote-hearing/ |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286  |retrieved=2020-12-06 |archive-date=2020-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206082941/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/02/amazon-union-vote-hearing/ |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> The NLRB denied the company's request to delay initial hearings. Amazon recommended expanding the bargaining unit to 5,700 workers, and in a three-day NLRB hearing, lawyers from Amazon and the union established a broader bargaining unit membership than originally proposed, including seasonal hires and on-site medical, safety, and training workers. These were common tactics to [[union busting|discourage unionization]], as a larger bargaining unit would dilute the union's penetration, having only organized a portion of the originally proposed, smaller unit. The union accepted the expanded unit to let the vote proceed sooner. During the drive, Amazon held mandatory meetings to hear the company's anti-union position and hung signage to discourage unionization.


The union drive received outward support from Statesian politicians including [[U.S. Representatives]] [[Andy Levin]], [[Jamaal Bowman]], [[Cori Bush]], [[Terri Sewell]], [[Nikema Williams]] and [[United States Senate|US Senator]] [[Bernie Sanders]], among many others. President [[Joe Biden]] alluded to the Alabama drive in a contemporaneous speech in support of unions.<ref>{{Web citation |title='No sense of job security': Amazon union organizers tell lawmakers in Alabama |newspaper=[[Reuters]] |date=2021-03-06 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-amazon-labor-idUSKBN2AX19K |language=en  |retrieved=March 21, 2021 |archive-date=March 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320092135/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-amazon-labor-idUSKBN2AX19K |url-status=live |author=Daniel Medina, Nandita Bose}}</ref> Biden gave stronger support than any president has given unions in decades, and labor activists said his advocacy would build his support in the working class, fighting off Republican inroads there.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Sean Sullivan |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=2021-04-10 |title=Biden took a chance in promoting the Amazon union push. What does its failure mean for him? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-union-amazon-failure/2021/04/09/1e1110f4-9945-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414114642/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-union-amazon-failure/2021/04/09/1e1110f4-9945-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html |archive-date=2021-04-14 }}.</ref> During the drive, the RWDSU reported interest from a thousand Amazon workers across the United States.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Greg Norman |title=Union organizing Amazon Alabama employees sought by 1,000+ colleagues in other states |newspaper=FOXBusiness |date=March 9, 2021 |url=https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/more-than-1000-amazon-workers-contact-union-involved-in-alabama-organizing-effort |language=en-US |retrieved=March 21, 2021  |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321064405/https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/more-than-1000-amazon-workers-contact-union-involved-in-alabama-organizing-effort |url-status=live }}</ref>
The union drive received outward support from American politicians including [[U.S. Representatives]] [[Andy Levin]], [[Jamaal Bowman]], [[Cori Bush]], [[Terri Sewell]], [[Nikema Williams]] and [[United States Senate|US Senator]] [[Bernie Sanders]], among many others. President [[Joe Biden]] alluded to the Alabama drive in a contemporaneous speech in support of unions.<ref>{{Web citation |title='No sense of job security': Amazon union organizers tell lawmakers in Alabama |newspaper=[[Reuters]] |date=2021-03-06 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-amazon-labor-idUSKBN2AX19K |language=en  |retrieved=March 21, 2021 |archive-date=March 20, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320092135/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-amazon-labor-idUSKBN2AX19K |url-status=live |author=Daniel Medina, Nandita Bose}}</ref> Biden gave stronger support than any president has given unions in decades, and labor activists said his advocacy would build his support in the working class, fighting off Republican inroads there.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Sean Sullivan |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |date=2021-04-10 |title=Biden took a chance in promoting the Amazon union push. What does its failure mean for him? |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-union-amazon-failure/2021/04/09/1e1110f4-9945-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414114642/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-union-amazon-failure/2021/04/09/1e1110f4-9945-11eb-a6d0-13d207aadb78_story.html |archive-date=2021-04-14 }}.</ref> During the drive, the RWDSU reported interest from a thousand Amazon workers across the United States.<ref>{{Web citation |author=Greg Norman |title=Union organizing Amazon Alabama employees sought by 1,000+ colleagues in other states |newspaper=FOXBusiness |date=March 9, 2021 |url=https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/more-than-1000-amazon-workers-contact-union-involved-in-alabama-organizing-effort |language=en-US |retrieved=March 21, 2021  |archive-date=March 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321064405/https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/more-than-1000-amazon-workers-contact-union-involved-in-alabama-organizing-effort |url-status=live }}</ref>


Mail-in ballots were distributed on February 8, 2021, after the NLRB rejected Amazon's attempt to delay the vote.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Jason Slotkin|date=February 7, 2021|title=In Alabama, Workers At Amazon Warehouse Are Poised For Union Vote|newspaper=[[National Public Radio]]|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965162338/in-alabama-workers-at-amazon-warehouse-are-poised-for-union-vote|url-status=live|access-date=February 8, 2021|archive-date=February 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208203346/https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965162338/in-alabama-workers-at-amazon-warehouse-are-poised-for-union-vote}}</ref> Ballots were due by March 29<ref>{{Web citation |first=Josh Dzieza|date=2021-02-08|title=Alabama warehouse workers prepare to face down Amazon in union vote|newspaper=The Verge|url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272213/amazon-union-bhm1-alabama-rwdsu-vote-begins|url-status=live|retrieved=2021-02-09|archive-date=2021-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208223633/https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272213/amazon-union-bhm1-alabama-rwdsu-vote-begins}}</ref> to be counted on April 8 and 9.<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/982139494/its-a-no-amazon-warehouse-workers-vote-against-unionizing-in-historic-election |title=It's A No: Amazon Warehouse Workers Vote Against Unionizing In Historic Election|retrieved=2021-04-09 |archive-date=2021-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409190915/https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/982139494/its-a-no-amazon-warehouse-workers-vote-against-unionizing-in-historic-election |url-status=live }}</ref> The vast majority voted against unionization: 1,798 to 738. Of about 6,000 eligible employees, about 40% had participated. An additional 505 ballots were contested and left sealed, not being numerous enough in count to sway the final tally.
Mail-in ballots were distributed on February 8, 2021, after the NLRB rejected Amazon's attempt to delay the vote.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Jason Slotkin|date=February 7, 2021|title=In Alabama, Workers At Amazon Warehouse Are Poised For Union Vote|newspaper=[[National Public Radio]]|url=https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965162338/in-alabama-workers-at-amazon-warehouse-are-poised-for-union-vote|url-status=live|access-date=February 8, 2021|archive-date=February 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208203346/https://www.npr.org/2021/02/07/965162338/in-alabama-workers-at-amazon-warehouse-are-poised-for-union-vote}}</ref> Ballots were due by March 29<ref>{{Web citation |first=Josh Dzieza|date=2021-02-08|title=Alabama warehouse workers prepare to face down Amazon in union vote|newspaper=The Verge|url=https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272213/amazon-union-bhm1-alabama-rwdsu-vote-begins|url-status=live|retrieved=2021-02-09|archive-date=2021-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208223633/https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272213/amazon-union-bhm1-alabama-rwdsu-vote-begins}}</ref> to be counted on April 8 and 9.<ref>{{Web citation |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/982139494/its-a-no-amazon-warehouse-workers-vote-against-unionizing-in-historic-election |title=It's A No: Amazon Warehouse Workers Vote Against Unionizing In Historic Election|retrieved=2021-04-09 |archive-date=2021-04-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210409190915/https://www.npr.org/2021/04/09/982139494/its-a-no-amazon-warehouse-workers-vote-against-unionizing-in-historic-election |url-status=live }}</ref> The vast majority voted against unionization: 1,798 to 738. Of about 6,000 eligible employees, about 40% had participated. An additional 505 ballots were contested and left sealed, not being numerous enough in count to sway the final tally.
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