Biden Signals Support For Amazon Workers’ Vote To Unionize

In a video message on Sunday, President Joe Biden signaled support for Amazon workers in Alabama who have been attempting to unionize but without mentioning the specificities of the situation.

Over the course of this week, approximately 6,000 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, will vote on whether or not they want to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If the vote is successful, the workers would represent the first grouping of the company’s American workers to join a union. Biden notably did not mention the specifics of the situation, although he did reference Alabama workers in his tweet.

Biden’s tweet stated, “Workers in Alabama – and all across America – are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. It’s a vitally important choice – one that should be made without intimidation or threats by employers. Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union.”

Workers in Alabama – and all across America – are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. It’s a vitally important choice – one that should be made without intimidation or threats by employers.

Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union. pic.twitter.com/2lzbyyii1g

— President Biden (@POTUS) March 1, 2021

During his campaign for president, Biden claimed that he would be the “most pro-union president” and has long made efforts to improve conditions for working-class voters a main component of his political persona. In the video, Biden stressed the importance of workers voting on their own without pressure from employers.

Last month, a group of 50 congressional members expressed their support of the Amazon workers’ efforts to create a union with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

In a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the lawmakers referenced Biden’s Executive Order that states, “It is the policy of the United States to encourage union organizing and collective bargaining.”  The congresspeople added that expanding collective bargaining not only has the ability to help workers, but it can also be beneficial to management. “Workers who belong to unions earn higher wages, have more paid time off, and negotiate improved health care coverage, which can strengthen their families and communities and help the company with improved morale and reduced turnover, recruitment, training and other costs.”

The letter also claims that the Alabama workers are “focused on advancing racial equity.”

It continues, telling Bezos,

This is an opportunity for your company to chart a new course and break with your history of disempowering workers. From using so-called ‘flex’ workers to avoid paying full benefits to your employees, to failing to provide complete data on COVID-19 spread in the workplace, to spying on employees seeking to organize a union, Amazon has a clear pattern of denying workers dignity on the job. During this campaign in Alabama, you have attempted to coerce your employees out of exercising their voices with misleading text messages and anti-union propaganda and force in-person voting during a pandemic that has resulted in the deaths of nearly 500,000 Americans.

President Biden was also the recipient of a letter on the topic. Last week, a few dozen advocacy groups wrote to him, asking him to show his support for the workers in Alabama.

The letter states, “We write to urge you to publicly voice support for the unionization effort of Amazon warehouse workers currently underway in Bessemer, Alabama. These brave individuals are providing an inspiring and important example of collective labor action, and deserve the backing of not just all Americans, but specifically their federal government.”

The groups went on to say that “One of the most important things a president can do to help working people is to have their backs when they challenge corporate power, providing public support to the idea that Americans have a right to bargain collectively for better working conditions…This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make that pledge a reality. We urge you to lend all your support to the Amazon workers in Bessemer. They deserve nothing less.”

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