Amazon Workers Vote Down The Union.

April 9, 2021 Glen Turpening

Workers at the Alabama Amazon plant voted down the union after intense corporate pressure. (CNN)

The vote count against unionization totaled 1,798, surpassing the simple majority of 1,608 needed for either side to prevail, on Friday. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is behind the Bessemer union drive, announced it plans to file objections and unfair labor practice charges with the labor board. According to the final tally reached Friday afternoon, 738 workers voted in favor of the union. Meanwhile, 505 ballots are being challenged; however, the vote lead held by Amazon is greater than the total number of challenged ballots. The union election, which took place by mail over a nearly two-month period due to the pandemic, received national attention, with celebrities, politicians -- including President Joe Biden -- and employees at other Amazon facilities all lending public support to workers driving the unionization effort.

By Sara Ashley O'Brien, CNN Business

Amazon successfully fought the quest to unionize a plan in Alabama in a blow to the union movement. In what could be the first of several attempts to unionize the vastly expanding warehouse industry. The ability to form a union should be viewed not with contempt but with with open arms in an effort to try and reduce the wealth gap in this nation that is becoming almost insurmountable. The extreme wealth at the very to of the economic spectrum will continue to expand as long the ability of workers to demand a living wage is undermined.