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Biden didn't mention Amazon, but specifically referenced
"workers in Alabama" in the video and a tweet introducing it. He
said every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a
union, and no employer could take that away. "It's your
right...So make your voice heard," he said.
"Unions lift up workers, both union and non-union, but
especially Black and Brown workers," Biden said in the video.
"There should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no
anti-union propaganda. No supervisor should confront employees
about their union preferences."
Amazon, America’s second-biggest private employer, has no
unionized labor in the United States, and workers at its
fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, would be the first if
they vote in favor. Such a decision could encourage workers
attempting to organize at other Amazon facilities.
A spokeswoman from the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store
Union (RWDSU) said there had been many reports of various
"various intimidation tactics used by Amazon on this campaign
and during the voting period."
Amazon, which has long avoided unionization, did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
The company has trained managers to spot organizing activity. A
website advocating Amazon workers shun unions,
doitwithoutdues.com, warned the Bessemer employees, “why pay
almost $500 in dues? We’ve got you covered* with high wages,
health care, vision, and dental benefits.”
The last attempt by Amazon workers to unionize was in 2014.
A top adviser to Biden and officials from the RWDSU discussed
the union's drive to organize Amazon workers at the Bessemer
site after the inauguration, Reuters reported earlier this
month.
On Sunday, RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum welcomed what he
called Biden's "clear message of support" for the Amazon workers
seeking to bring the first union to an Amazon warehouse.
"As President Biden points out, the best way for working people
to protect themselves and their families is by organizing into
unions. And that is why so many working women and men are
fighting for a union at the Amazon facility in Bessemer,
Alabama,” he said in a statement.
Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO federation of unions, also
hailed Biden's tweet: "@POTUS is right: Every worker should have
the free and fair choice to join a union."
Biden has vowed to increase union membership in the United
States after years of steady declines.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the union membership
rate in the private sector was around 6.2% in 2019, compared to
around 20% in 1983.
(Reporting by Julia Harte, Nandita Bose and Andrea Shalal;
Editing by Diane Craft and Edwina Gibbs)
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