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Vote to unionise at Amazon Alabama warehouse failsSlightly more than 600 votes favoured the unionisation effort organised by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union
AFP
Last Updated IST
Amazon fulfillment in Bessemer, Alabama. Credit: AFP file photo.
Amazon fulfillment in Bessemer, Alabama. Credit: AFP file photo.

A contentious unionisation drive at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama failed as a vote count Friday showed a wide majority of workers rejecting the move.

In a vote count seen online, National Labor Relations Board officials counted more than 1,608 "no" votes shortly before 1500 GMT, representing a majority of the 3,215 ballots cast.

Slightly more than 600 votes favoured the unionisation effort organised by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Read: How big is Amazon in the US, really?

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The results cap a bitterly contested, months-long organizing drive which drew national attention and would have resulted in the first union at a US-based Amazon facility.

Activists and political leaders supported the union drive, citing concerns over a high-pressure environment in which workers are constantly monitored.

Amazon contended that a majority did not want a union, and claimed that it already delivered above-average benefits and salary.

The union said it would challenge the outcome, saying that Amazon "created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees' freedom of choice."

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(Published 09 April 2021, 21:30 IST)