In the Summer of 2020, only a few months after the first Amazon facility opened in Bessemer, Alabama, some of its employees reached out quietly to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. They described what have become common complaints from current and former Amazon workers, who have either been featured in articles or gained attention on social media by sharing their experiences. Bessemer’s employees, along with those online, have cited grueling productivity quotas, as well as little say in the way they work and unclear boundaries for what will get them disciplined or fired. In response to their outreach, the retail union mobilized an organizing support system involving unionized workers from across the region, and federal labor authorities scheduled a union vote once half of the workers in the Bessemer warehouse signed cards indicating they wanted a union shop.

         From the many who’ve been outspoken, various reasons have been indicated for wanting more freedoms as an Amazon employee, including the close way in which workers are tracked in and out of the facility. Every second not physically engaged in one’s task is counted as time off task, and they are not made aware of how much time off task is considered for termination or deserving of punishment, such as a sudden docked pay. To get a more in depth look at working conditions, I interviewed a former coworker of mine, David Finello. He left his position at our workplace to join Amazon as a delivery driver but stopped working there after only a week with similar remarks on the demanding experience. A most notable comment from him came originally from his first day trainer, one of the only other employees he communicated with, as he warned David, “They don’t care about Amazon drivers.” When I asked about how his tasks were monitored, he explained that drivers receive a smart device called a Rabbit, which holds an application for tracking the way you drive with a score. The highest score was around a 480, meaning that you are a safe driver, but this expectation doesn’t make reaching the 20-stops-per-hour-quota, that David also told me about, any easier. He also described the stressful nature of having your off-task time recorded, saying that, “Most people skip lunch and breaks, which can leave you very tired and with low energy.”

         Amazon continuously denies the pattern of allegations against them describing exhausting and exploitative working conditions, even amongst evidence that many employees resort to peeing in bottles and defecating in bags to meet the company’s targets while at work. This is mainly a concern for drivers, and David himself mentioned to me that bathrooms are impossible to find, but also out of the question anyway, because of the time it would take for an additional stop. Amazon has proven to be aware of the problem as well and has decided to track the bags used for human waste back to drivers, threatening serious punishment instead of solving the root issue. Driver’s haven’t noticed any ease in their package quotas, and instead they increase over time. 

         Aside from firsthand accounts of what it’s like working for Amazon, there are other obvious issues with the way the business runs, not to mention a COVID-19 response that was looked down upon. For one, the disposable nature in which Amazon treats its employees is directly reflected in its turnover rates. In California, during 2017, the average turnover reached 100.9% for warehouse workers in counties with Amazon fulfillment centers, meaning that people are leaving their jobs at a higher rate than others are getting jobs in these counties. This difference resulted after the first Amazon center came to the state, and the company also offers an annual program called “The Offer” which gives full-time workers the option to resign for an exit bonus starting at $1,000. The program resurfaced during the Bessemer vote, which made some consider whether Amazon was trying to get employees to leave rather than cast a ballot. 

In general, it’s become decently widespread knowledge that Amazon has used aggressive anti-union efforts in their training programs, but they’ve also made suspicious and bizarre union busting attempts to add difficulties for their workers trying to vote. In Bessemer, this included implementing a tented mailbox to possibly monitor votes, in addition to shortening red light times outside the warehouse for the suspected reasoning of preventing organizers from talking to workers in their cars. In a more obvious and strong pushback within Alabama, the company started up mandatory and lengthy information sessions, sent out various text messages to their employees, and displayed the slogan “Do it without dues” across warehouses. The combination of obviously poor working conditions and complete rejection towards unionization doesn’t add up well next to the immense wealth of Amazon and its CEO, Jeff Bezos. For this reason, many question the company’s stingy behavior towards giving better benefits and freedoms to their workers. 

5,800 employees were eligible to vote in Bessemer’s election, however this number decreased after Amazon and the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union filtered ballots based on job title and signature illegibility. Many voiced their support for workers seeking unionization, and among this was an implied solidarity from President Biden. In a posted video, he spoke to workers forming unions in Alabama specifically as well as the rest of the country, stressing the importance of this vote within the pandemic, without mentioning Amazon directly. Still, the final votes tallied to 1,798 against and 738 for the union, meaning that there won’t be one formed for the Amazon employees in Bessemer.

Now the RWDSU will challenge the ruling legally, charging Amazon for unfair labor practices, The National Labor Relations Board will hear their request to determine whether the original vote should be disregarded on the grounds that Amazon created a workplace where their employees were confused, coerced or fearful of reprimand, impairing their freedom to choose in the union vote. The vote has prompted hundreds of new inquiries, however. The last vote to occur was amongst a small group in 2014, so it’s causing more employees to think about their work and how fair the practices they participate in are. Hopefully the discussion surrounding this issue will drive overall improvement in the working conditions for Amazon employees, whether more facilities get the opportunity to unionize or Amazon modifies its standards.