Workers and supporters hold signs after they filed a petition calling for an election to form a union outside the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in the borough of Brooklyn in New York on Monday, October 25, 2021 .
Gaby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
More than 2,300 ballots were cast in a closely watched union election at one of Amazon’s Alabama warehouses, according to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union.
Around 39% of the 6,143 eligible voters cast their votes in the election. That’s less than the first election last spring, when turnout was around 55%.
Workers at the Bessemer, Alabama camp are voting for the second time on whether to join RWDSU. Last spring, Amazon workers in the camp known as BHM1 overwhelmingly opposed unionization. The National Labor Relations Board ordered snap elections after finding Amazon had improperly interfered in union competition.
BHM1 workers had to mail in their ballots from February 4th to March 25th. The NLRB began private ballot counting Monday, while Amazon and RWDSU had an opportunity to contest the ballots.
The public part of the vote count is expected to begin on Thursday afternoon, said the RWDSU.
National unions have long sought to organize Amazon warehouse and delivery workers, but so far no Amazon warehouse in the US has successfully unionized.
The Bessemer election is drawing to a close while another Amazon store wraps up its union campaign. Voting at an Amazon store on Staten Island in New York ended Wednesday. The NLRB is expected to begin counting ballots on Thursday.
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