Ballots go out in Amazon union battle in Alabama

Amazon workers in Bessemer, Ala., are being sent their ballots Monday in one of the most important union elections of the last decade.

The roughly 5,800 plant workers will now have seven weeks to cast their ballots for National Labor Relations Board certification.

“The importance of this vote transcends this one facility,” said Stuart Applebaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which would represent the warehouse if a majority of votes cast go its way.

The workers in support of the union are organizing for better wages, less arduous schedules and adequate coronavirus protections.

Amazon has maintained that the union does not represent the majority of its workers’ views and touted its starting wage and health benefits.