The Amazon fulfillment warehouse at the center of a unionisation drive in Bessemer, Alabama. Before it comfortably retires with its victory, Amazon will likely stop to carefully consider the Bessemer saga. Though it won decisively, the battle was unusually bruising, and the public is likely to remember the entire ordeal mainly for Amazon’s ham-fisted responses to criticism from Sanders and Warren, and the accusation that the company’s drivers often have to relieve themselves in bottles while on the road. — AFP
Amazon.com Inc always had the upper hand in its high-profile battle with the US Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union over its fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. It had the deeper pockets, of course, and with mandatory workplace “information sessions”, could slyly proselytise on the shop floor against the union and the financial burdens of membership.
Beyond that, Amazon also enjoyed a stark economic calculus. Three years ago, the Bessemer region wooed Amazon with an incentive package worth an estimated US$51mil (RM210.75mil), one of the largest financial enticements the company has ever received to open a warehouse. At around the same time, the nearby city of Birmingham constructed three giant faux – Amazon cardboard boxes around town, part of an unsuccessful promotional stunt to try to lure Amazon’s second headquarters to the city. Like a lot of other states, Alabama wanted Amazon and its jobs in a time of widespread economic anxiety.
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