Biden backs Amazon workers' push to unionize in Alabama: 'Make sure your voice is heard'
Biden offered tacit endorsement of Amazon unionization efforts without directly naming the e-commerce behemoth
President Biden voiced support for a group of Amazon workers pushing to organize in Alabama, calling the union vote "vitally important," even as he avoided directly naming the e-commerce behemoth.
"Workers in Alabama — and all across America — are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. It’s a vitally important choice — one that should be made without intimidation or threats by employers," the president tweeted on Monday. "Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union."
In a video message that accompanied the tweet, Biden told the workers that his administration supports their right to unionize and collectively bargain, saying the choice is theirs "full stop."
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"This is a vitally important choice," he said. "There should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda ... You know, every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union. The law guarantees that right."
Biden has long cast himself as pro-union and pledged to be the "strongest labor president you have ever had," but had previously avoided commenting on the effort of roughly 6,000 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. It marks one of the biggest unionization pushes at the company since it was founded in 1995.
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Mail-in voting began in mid-February and will run through March 29. It could become the first Amazon warehouse union in the U.S. if a majority of the 5,800 workers vote "yes" to unionize.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a FOX Business request for comment. But Jeff Bezos' company — whose profits have surged during the coronavirus pandemic — has said that organizers don't represent the majority of employees' views and that it already offers what unions want, including pay that starts at $15 an hour.
Labor membership has seen a steady, decades-long decline; just a little more than 10% of workers were represented by unions last year, according to Labor Department data, a decline of nearly 50% from 1983.
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Unions hoped Biden will enact policies that could revive the labor movement and bring in more members – and more money. For instance, Biden has committed to passing the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would amend decades-old labor laws by expanding workers' collective bargaining rights and add penalties for companies that retaliate against employees for forming unions.
