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Opinion | Why the Amazon Workers Never Stood a Chance (Published 2021)
Our system of labor law and regulations has too strongly tilted the playing field in favor of companies and against unions.
www.nytimes.com
4/15/21
Labor activists had great hopes for the attempt to organize the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., and the effort by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union attracted national attention. President Biden released a video in support of the right of workers to join a union without company interference. But the union lost the election — and in a rout. Some critics claimed it did not do the proper legwork to gain worker support. The lack of a union culture in Alabama meant few workers had experience with one. But the biggest barrier for the union — as it is in nearly every private sector union campaign in the country — is that the system of labor law and regulations created in the New Deal no longer functions effectively. Corporate manipulation of the labor law regime has so strongly tilted the playing field in favor of companies that winning a private sector union election has become nearly impossible. Amazon pulled out the same playbook that employers have used since the 1980s: hire an expensive anti-union law firm, shower employees with anti-union literature, force them to sit through anti-union meetings and bombard them with messages about union dues. This is all perfectly legal under a labor-law regime captured by corporations. It’s been 83 years since we passed comprehensive labor law that helped workers win power.
A highly partisan National Labor Relations Board swings wildly in its decisions, making it impossible to carry out labor policy in a consistent way. Union after union has nearly given up on the expensive and time-consuming process of organizing single workplaces. Even had the union won the vote, Amazon would likely have slowed the process of contract negotiations to a crawl, which can delay an agreement; many companies are able to defeat the union during this process. Winning a first contract now requires a union campaign as intensive as the initial vote. We may be in a period where economic justice concerns are more central to our politics than any time since the mid-20th century. But without a new round of labor law reform, organized labor cannot succeed. This problem has a very clear solution. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act. It would make many of Amazon’s tactics in Bessemer illegal. The PRO Act would bar mandatory anti-union meetings and other forms of employer interference. Employees could cast their ballot outside of the workplace. It would allow newly formed union locals to go to mediation to get their first contract. The PRO Act would once again place unions and employers on a more equal standing.
Part of the wealth inequality problem in America today stems from the ability of corporations to utilize union-busting tactics to ward off a union certification.
This unbalanced situation cannot be ameliorated without new Federal labor laws that level the unionization playing field.