Amazon has defeated activists hoping to establish the company's first unionised warehouse in the US.
Workers at the Bessemer, Alabama warehouse voted 1,798 to 738 against the effort, labour officials said.
That represented a majority of votes cast in the contest, which was seen as a key test for Amazon after global criticism of its treatment of workers during the pandemic.
The union said it would challenge the results.
It accused Amazon of interfering with the right of employees to vote in a "free and fair election", including by lying to staff about the implications of the vote in mandatory staff meetings and pushing the postal service to install a mailbox on company grounds in an effort to monitor the vote.
"Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees," said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which organised the effort.
"We won't let Amazon's lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged, which is why we are formally filing charges against all of the egregious and blatantly illegal actions taken by Amazon during the union vote."
Amazon said on Friday that it was "not true" that it had intimidated staff.
It said the firm works hard to listen to concerns and improve, casting the outcome as a choice by staff, rather than a company victory.
"We're not perfect, but we're proud of our team and what we offer, and will keep working to get better every day," it said.
What was the fight about?
If successful, the union drive would have meant that Amazon, the second largest employer in the US, would have had to negotiate a contract with union officials on issues such as work rules and pay.
RWDSU leaders had hoped that the pandemic, which sent Amazon's business soaring while exposing its workers to new health risks, had created an opportunity for the union to make inroads and set a new standard for Amazon staff across the country.
Organisers tied the fight at the warehouse - where the majority of workers are black - to broader issues of civil rights and racial justice and cited complaints, such as intrusive monitoring and abrupt, impersonal treatment by management.
Amazon contended that the union did not represent the views of most of its staff.
It said it offered competitive salaries and benefits and told workers that the union would collect hundreds of dollars in dues without being able to deliver changes.
'Outsize power'
The election in Bessemer, a town of 27,000 people outside of Birmingham, was closely watched.
Last month, US President Joe Biden called the vote a "vitally important choice". Celebrities and national Democratic politicians travelled to the state to support the union campaign, which even drew some Republican backing.
Despite that showing, Rebecca Givan, professor of labour studies at Rutgers University, said she was not surprised by Amazon won the battle, given the outsize power employers have to fight union efforts under current US law.
"Employers have a huge advantage in these situations," she said. "They have almost unlimited money and almost unlimited access to the workers to bombard them with messages of anxiety and uncertainty and we see the result of that here."
Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union, a global federation of unions, said Amazon's conduct during the campaign showed that US labour law was "broken".
But she said the movement had already inspired workers elsewhere.
"The impact of Bessemer has already rippled out far beyond the warehouse walls and cannot be understated," she said.
"While this vote was happening, there were strikes in Germany and Italy, and a massive new effort to reach Amazon workers was launched in the UK. It will continue to give hope to workers demanding a voice at work and a job with dignity."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiLGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jby51ay9uZXdzL2J1c2luZXNzLTU2Njk1NjY30gEwaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvLnVrL25ld3MvYW1wL2J1c2luZXNzLTU2Njk1NjY3?oc=5
2021-04-09 16:13:21Z
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