Amazon reportedly pressured the United States Postal Service to expedite the installation of a letter box out of doors of its Bessemer , Alabama storage warehouse ahead of a gamey - profile union vote , a move union supporters argue is a blatant tactic to restrain employee .
That ’s harmonise to a series of internal USPS email obtain in a Freedom of Information Act request from the Retail , Wholesale and Department Store Union , which is campaign to represent roughly 5,800 workers at Amazon ’s facility . If Amazon wins the election , the RWDSU could practice these emails to work up its typeface challenging the resolution , asthe Washington Postnotes . Thecounting is still underway , but of the 3,215 voting submitted , roughly half have been consider as of Thursday evening , with 1,100 votes against unionization and 463 votes in supporting , per an unofficial tally confirmed bythe New York Times .
The RWDSU previouslyissued complaintsabout the mailbox after the Postal Service install it in February just before the beginning of the warehouse ’s mail - in balloting process . It contend Amazon was on purpose assay to mislead doer into thinking the company played a part in add together the votes , and the box was just the belated move in Amazon ’s extensive hunting expedition ofintimidation tactics . The mailbox ’s emplacement could also run afoul of the National Labor Relations Board , which previously rule out Amazon ’s bid to place ballot box at the warehouse so doer could vote in soul . ( The NLRB prefer instead for a mail - in vote system , adduce concerns about potential surveillance by Amazon higher - ups along with worker safety amid the covid-19 pandemic ) .
Photo: Denis Charlet (Getty Images)
The emails were heavily redacted in the Postal Service ’s reply , which the RWDSU shared with Gizmodo , but it ’s exonerated that Amazon repeatedly needle the agency about coiffure up a collection box at its storage warehouse and had an precise deadline in nous : Feb. 7 , just days forward of the seven - week balloting cognitive operation .
On Jan. 8 , a USPS account manager wrote to an Alabama workfellow to inquire about how cursorily a collection loge could be installed for Amazon at its Bessemer warehouse . The manager total that a person , whose name was redacted , “ at Amazon HQ would care to [ be ] keep in the loop on this onward motion . ”
“ We have not heard anything back on the install of this collecting box , ” the director followed up on Jan. 14 . “ Amazon is reaching out again to me today about the position as they wanted to move quickly on this . ”
Six days later , they sent another electronic mail saying they ’d just get a line that “ Amazon ’s expected jell up date for this collection box is February 7 , 2021 . ”
In their responses , USPS officials ab initio express concern that there may not be enough intensity to warrant moving a box to that position in accord with the agency ’s parameters . In a Feb. 1 email , an official estimates the approval and installation process will take “ a lower limit of 4 - 6 week . ” However , a mailbox was localize in the parking lot in front of Amazon ’s Alabama storage warehouse roughly a week afterward , just in meter for voting .
These e-mail also appear to contradict what the USPS toldthe Washington Poston the subject last month : That the Postal Service , and not Amazon , first came up with the idea of setting up a loge at the warehouse . In a statement to the outlet , USPS spokesperson David Partenheimer claimed the box was “ advise by the Postal Service as a solution to provide an efficient and secure delivery and collection point . ”
The RWDSU claim that Amazon used the mailbox , which is one of those nondescript unit you see in flat building complex or condo and thus lack any markings to indicate that it is holding of the Postal Service , in tandem with its campaign encouraging employees to submit their mail - in ballots at work in a bid to confuse and intimidate workers . The logical argument goes that some may have assumed Amazon held a function in conducting the election , and , by extension , Amazon could single out which employees supported union effort based on who fend using the mailbox , since it could middling be assumed they were do out of fear of revenge .
These e-mail try , yet again , just how far Amazon is willing to go to hold out unionisation efforts , RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum said .
“ Even though the NLRB definitively deny Amazon ’s request for a drop curtain box on the warehouse place , Amazon felt it was above the law and worked with the postal service of process anyway to instal one , ” said Appelbaum in a statement to Gizmodo . “ They did this because it provided a clear power to intimidate workers . We exact an investigating over Amazon ’s demeanour in corrupting the election . ”
For its part , Amazon claims that the mailbox ’s placement was intend to make the balloting mental process more convenient for employees .
“ We said from the beginning that we want all employees to vote and purport many different options to taste and make it easy , ” a company spokesperson tell Gizmodo on Thursday . “ The RWDSU fight those at every turn and labour for a ring mail - only election , which the NLRB ’s own data showed would dilute outfit . This letter box — which only the USPS had admittance to — was a unsubdivided , secure , and all optional agency to make it easy for employees to vote , no more and no less . ”
The union needs just over 50 % of the voter turnout to win . Both Amazon and the RWDSU can take exception ballots based on certain eligibility requirements and petition to overturn the results if the phone number of contested balloting is substantial enough . The NLRB would then hold a audition and principle on the rigour of each ballot on an individual basis , a cognitive process thatcould take month . On Thursday , the RWDSU told Gizmodo that “ hundreds ” of ballots have been challenged , most of them by Amazon .
As of now , it ’s anyone ’s guess when we ’ll have the terminal results . It may be tomorrow , or maybe Monday , or possibly months from now ( though hopefully not ) . We ’ll continue to post updates as we learn more .
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