A labor group seeking to unionize Amazon workers in Alabama accused the retail giant Tuesday of “unfair labor practices” over its comportment during the vote.
Organizers of the unionization campaign in Bessemer, Alabama, said Amazon’s actions amounted to a “continuance of the company’s conduct aimed at interfering with the right of employees to organize,” according to a press release.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which mailed out ballots to workers earlier this month, has said it will begin counting ballots on March 28.
Amazon easily prevailed in an April 2021 vote at the facility, but the NLRB last fall ordered a new election after ruling the company had violated rules during the ballot.
The closely-watched campaign comes as Amazon faces a similar vote in March at a facility in Staten Island, New York.
Among the charges listed Tuesday: Amazon is alleged to have removed pro-union literature from breakrooms and required employees to attend meetings where they are subjected to “anti-union propaganda,” the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union said.
Because the meetings are mandatory, they violate workers’ right to “refrain” from such activities, the union said.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.
