Judge rules for third union vote at Alabama Amazon facility

Nov. 7 (UPI) - An Alabama administrative law judge ruled on Wednesday that workers at Amazon's fulfillment center in suburban Birmingham should vote for a third time to unionize.

Judge Michael Silverstein said the Retail, Wholesale& Department Store Union proved six incidents of unfair labor practices by Amazon at its center in Bessemer, Ala., in 2022. Silverstein set aside the results of that election, which Amazon disputed.

The center's employees voted down unionization in 2021, but that decision was voided by the National Labor Relations Board after it ruled Amazon interfered with the election process.

It appeared employees voted down unionization by a narrow margin in 2022, but more than 300 ballots, enough to overturn the election, remained in dispute.

Silverstein said he chose to rule in favor of a third vote due in part to Amazon's "unlawful confiscation of union materials from areas in the facility such as breakrooms and bathrooms.

"We never doubted that Amazon was going to take every opportunity, legal or not, to deny its employees at its Bessemer warehouse a free and fair election," Stuart Applebaum, president of RWDSU, said in a statement .

"These were the first Amazon warehouse workers anywhere in the nation who filed for union representation. Amazon has been found yet again to have violated basic labor laws."

Amazon said it would appeal the ruling .

"This decision is wrong on the facts and the law," Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis said in a statement. "[The union is] trying to force a third vote instead of accepting the facts and the will of our team members."

"We never doubted that Amazon was going to take every opportunity, legal or not, to deny its employees at its Bessemer warehouse a free and fair election," Stuart Applebaum, president of RWDSU, said in a statement .

"These were the first Amazon warehouse workers anywhere in the nation who filed for union representation. Amazon has been found yet again to have violated basic labor laws."

Amazon also has been challenging the union organizing vote at its facility in Staten Island, N.Y., which became the only unionized Amazon facility in the country in 2022. However, Amazon has refused to negotiate with the 5,500-member union there.