Posts tagged Bessemer
Amazon Teamsters Face New Challenges in NYC
September 10, 2025 // “The Cemex decision does two key things: one, institutes a new modified…doctrine that facilitates card check recognition; and two, lowers the threshold for when the Board will issue a bargaining order without holding an election,,” the law firm said in the post. The Teamsters spokesman said the union has had successful card check actions at more than 20 DSPs But in February, NLRB Acting General Counsel William B. Cowen issued a memo withdrawing earlier guidance on several earlier legal opinions, including the Cemex decision. That would seem to shut off the NLRB–which currently does not have a quorum but is awaiting Senate confirmation of two White House nominees–from approving a card check filing as a means to gain union recognition by Amazon or any employer…unless a full Republican-majority NLRB rules Amazon is a joint employer with the DSPs.
Opinion: Algorithmic surveillance helped Amazon crush unionizing effort
March 21, 2025 // Now, in a critical study titled "Weaponizing the Workplace: How Algorithmic Management Shaped Amazon's Antiunion Campaign in Bessemer, Alabama," Teke Wiggin, a researcher at Northwestern University, says that Amazon might have pressured workers to vote in a certain way. According to Wiggin, Amazon might have leveraged “the specific control technique of algorithmic management to repel (not just prevent) collective action by workers.” “The findings reveal that employers can weaponize elements or effects of algorithmic management against unions via repurposing devices that algorithmically control workers, engaging in 'algorithmic slack-cutting,' and exploiting patterns of social media activity encouraged by algorithmic management,” the paper says.
Amazon ordered to let workers vote on unionizing — for the 3rd time
November 7, 2024 // Amazon says it plans to appeal the ruling. "This decision is wrong on the facts and the law," Spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis said in a statement. She criticized the labor board and the union for "trying to force a third vote instead of accepting the facts and the will of our team members."
Just 5 percent of private sector workers voted for their unions
September 12, 2024 // There are 7.4 million unionized private sector workers according to the Labor Department. Just under 5 percent of those workers voted in favor of the union that represents them according to an analysis of department data by the nonprofit Institute for the American Worker, a free market think tank. The vast majority of those workers joined workplaces that were already organized and have had to accept the union to keep their job. The workers almost never get a chance to weigh in themselves. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law covering union activity, does not require that a union ever have to reaffirm that it has the workers’ support once it is recognized. This is true even if none of the workers who originally voted for the union are still around.
The labor movement could prove pivotal this election year
September 5, 2024 //
Teamsters work to galvanize Amazon workers, hitting the company when it hurts most
March 7, 2024 // The resolution alleges that Amazon “exploits its employees, contractors, and employees of contractors via: wage theft, fraudulent classification, intense production quotas, dehumanizing work environments, unsafe workplaces and production standards, low wages, high turnover, no voice on the job, lack of job security and outsourced jobs.” The Teamsters have spent five years speaking to thousands of Amazon workers to develop the best strategies for organizing, the resolution states. The announcement comes during Prime Day, Amazon’s annual sales event and one of the busiest times of the year for workers in the company’s warehouses.
Judge Rules Amazon Engaged in Anti-Union Activities in New York
December 6, 2023 // The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has won a ruling against Amazon for harassing employees seeking to unionize its JFK8 and DYY6 fulfillment facilities in Staten Island, N.Y. In a Nov. 21 ruling, Administrative Law Judge Lauren Esposito found that Amazon had violated the National Labor Relations Act by dismissing employees early, altering employees’ work assignments and subjecting employees to closer supervision in retaliation for their support for the Amazon Labor Union. The decision also found that Amazon unlawfully interrogated employees, disparaged the union by using appeals to racial prejudice and derogatory racial stereotyping, and prohibited employees from distributing union literature and confiscating union literature from employees.
How the Amazon Labor Union helped shape modern workers’ rights
October 19, 2023 // For every 1% of Amazon's workforce that unionizes, analysts expect it to lead to an incremental $150 million in annual operating expenses.
Unions seek gains in hostile territory: ‘If you change the South, you change America’
September 15, 2023 // The Union of Southern Service Workers, an SEIU-backed group, is organizing low-wage workers from across the service industry. The National Domestic Workers Alliance, a non-union membership organization, is mapping blue-leaning Southern jurisdictions, such as Miami-Dade County, that could be open to enacting a floor of labor standards for homecare. That effort has already led to the passage of “Bill of Rights” legislation in 10 states and four cities. And the Southern Workers Assembly, an advocacy group for both union and non-union workers, is trying to educate and organize workplaces across the region.
Fired Amazon union organizer in Alabama reinstated after filing a complaint, union says
June 16, 2023 // An Amazon spokesperson said during the appeals review, the company determined Bates had failed to be responsive to multiple requests for information regarding her leave. But the spokesperson said there were things the company could have done better to ensure Bates had clarity around what was needed — which is why she’s being reinstated. The company said it also encouraged her to file an appeal. “After a full review of her case, the decision was made to reinstate her,” said Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis. “We’re pleased that our appeal process continues to work as designed.” The RWDSU has long been a foe of Amazon, which is attempting to fend off organized labor from its vast network of warehouses. The company and the union are still contesting the results of a union election held last year in Bessemer, Alabama, which remains too close to call with 416 challenged ballots still waiting for adjudication.