Amazon employees at AL warehouse may get second chance to unionize – National & International News – TUE 3Aug2021

AL Amazon employees may get 2nd union vote. COVID cases rise sharply; slight uptick in vaccinations. Palestinians nix deal to avoid eviction by Jewish settlers.

NATIONAL NEWS

Amazon employees at AL warehouse may get second chance to unionize

Earlier this year, employees at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, AL, near Birmingham, voted nearly 2-1 against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

But now, the National Labor Relations Board has found that Amazon illegally pressured employees to vote against the union. The NLRB says Amazon’s tampering was sufficient to call a second vote.

At an NLRB hearing, workers testified that Amazon held numerous mandatory anti-union meetings and engaged in various other intimidation tactics. These included sending text messages to employees threatening to shut down the warehouse should the union win.

Both the union and the NLRB slammed Amazon’s decision to have a mailbox installed on company property to collect the mail-in ballots for the vote. At the time, the RWDSU said that having the mailbox in full view of company surveillance intimidated workers and raised fears their votes were being monitored. One pro-union worker even testified that he saw Amazon security workers opening the box. The local USPS officials deny having issued keys for the box to anyone at Amazon. 

Amazon’s tactics may have contributed to the exceedingly low participation in the vote. Of the warehouse’s nearly 6000 employees, only about half voted.

Following the NLRB’s ruling, RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said that, “Amazon’s behavior throughout the election process was despicable. Amazon cheated, they got caught, and they are being held accountable”.

It’s not clear yet when a second vote will take place. A regional NLRB director will decide in a few weeks whether to schedule a new vote. Amazon has said it will challenge Monday’s ruling.

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COVID cases rise sharply; slight uptick in vaccinations

Last Friday, the US recorded over 100,000 new COVID cases due to the delta variant, surpassing last summer’s peak. Florida and Texas alone accounted for 1/3 of the country’s new cases last week.

Some states and regions where cases have been on the rise have also seen an increase in demand for the vaccine. In fact, the nation has just hit President Biden’s target of 70% of Americans having received their first vaccine, but over a month after Biden had hoped to meet that goal. Part of the nationwide uptick in demand may be due to a wave of vaccine mandates for employees of government and private entities.

Last week, New York City became the first major US city to require vaccines or weekly tests for civil employees. Now, the city is the first to pass rules targeting the general public as well. New York City will require employees and patrons of indoor dining, exercise and performance/recreational facilities to show proof of vaccination. New Yorkers can also receive $100 for getting their first dose.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Sheikh Jarrah Palestinians reject deal to avoid eviction by Jewish settlers

Four Palestinian families who have lived for decades in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem rejected an offer from an Israeli court to fend off their eviction to make way for Jewish settlers. The deal would have required the families to acknowledge Jewish ownership of the properties and to pay rent to the organization pushing to move in Israeli settlers.

In the 1960s, several Palestinian families received titles to homes in East Jerusalem in exchange for waiving their refugee status. Some families have already been forced out, only to have Jewish settlers from the US take over their homes days later. The UN has said that these evictions by the Israeli state may qualify as a war crime.

Tensions over the evictions boiled over a few months ago, sparking widespread ethnic violence, as well as an 11-day shooting war between Israel and Gaza.

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