Advertisement

Union challenges Amazon election results

A labor group that failed to secure enough votes from Amazon warehouse workers to form a union in Alabama earlier this month, is now formally objecting the election results, alleging that the online retailer played dirty.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union late last week submitted nearly two dozen objections to Amazon's conduct during the election, which it said prevented employees from a "free and uncoerced exercise of choice" on whether to create the company's first-ever U.S. union.

Amazon has denied the outcome resulted from intimidation of its employees and said it did not threaten layoffs or a facility closure.

Workers at Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama warehouse rejected joining the union by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

In the filing to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, shared with Reuters, the union requested the election results be set aside. Amazon responded in a statement, (quote):

"The fact is that less than 16% of employees at BHM1 voted to join a union. Rather than accepting these employees' choice, the union seems determined to continue misrepresenting the facts in order to drive its own agenda. We look forward to the next steps in the legal process."