Workers at an Amazon facility in North Carolina are set to vote on whether to join a union in what could see employees galvanized in warehouses across the country.
The vote is set to go ahead at the facility in the city of Garner, which is just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina and hosts 4700 workers.
It comes at a time when the ecommerce giant has faced increasing discontentment among its employees, resulting in both strikes and open pushback against its stringent RTO policy.
Collective Bargaining
The workers in North Carolina will vote this week as to whether they should join the Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment union, or CAUSE. This group has said that they will fight for higher wages, longer breaks, and more flexibility in the working day for employees.
However, Amazon is actively encouraging the workers not to join. An Amazon spokesperson, Eileen Hards, told Reuters that employees should instead “…have their unique voice heard by working directly with our team.” She also added that employees at the facility have pay starting from $18.50/ hour and this is more than double the state’s minimum wage.
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Rising Tide of Anger
This is the second vote, though, that Amazon has had to contend with this year alone. In January, workers at a Whole Foods store in Philadelphia voted to unionize. This was a landmark moment as it marked the first successful union organization event at the chain, which was bought by Amazon in 2017.
There has also been a successful union drive at a warehouse on Staten Island, but Amazon hasn’t recognized the group; and there is a wrangle in Alabama where a union has accused Amazon of misconduct after two votes.
Employees in North Carolina are also alleging pernicious behavior saying that Amazon is playing anti-union messages continuously in break-out spaces and has set up “voluntary” meetings for employees in which it pushes its message.
Entrenched Views
Amazon doesn’t have a track record of playing nice when it comes to collective action. Successive protests about the company’s RTO mandate have fallen on deaf ears.
Even when the company was accused of making it hard for disabled workers to gain permission to work from home, the company stuck to its line about strengthening its culture.
But if this union vote goes against it, it is a measure of how discontent is growing; and could be impetus for the thousands of Amazon workers across the US to mobilize.
