Banners are placed at the Amazon facility as members of a congressional delegation arrive to show their support for workers who will vote on whether to unionize, in Bessemer, Alabama on March 5, 2021.
REUTERS/Dustin Chambers/File Photo
Amazon is winning a closely watched election at an Alabama warehouse — where some workers are hoping to become the first at the global e-commerce giant to unionize.
With about half of the ballots cast counted Thursday, about 70 percent of employees at the warehouse in Bessemer sided with Amazon and against unionization, the Wall Street Journal reported.
More than 3,200 workers at the warehouse — a little more than half of those working there — have cast ballots indicating if they wished to join the national Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union.
Amazon has lobbied hard against unionization, including by launching a website — doitwithoutdues.com — that discourages employees from organizing.
The union has criticized Amazon’s anti-union campaign, including how it held mandatory meetings where workers were discouraged from organizing.
The ballots are being counted by officials from the federal National Labor Relations Board; counting has finished for the day and resumes Friday. A final result may still be days away.
With some 950,000 employees, Amazon is the nation’s second-largest employer after Walmart, the Journal reported.