Biden says there should be “no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda” by Amazon amid its warehouse workers' vote on whether to form a union in Alabama
but the workers? They're not so sure https://www.bloomberg.com/... Mike Elk / @mikeelk : This piece does a good job capturing the mix of pro & anti-union views held by workers at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Steven Greenhouse / @greenhousenyt : “If the RWDSU loses the campaign to unionize Amazon, you can always find some strategic missteps, but those will be dwarfed by the size of Amazon's wealth & its ability to mount an anti-union campaign” says Janice Fine, a labor studies professor at Rutgers https://www.bloomberg.com/... Bill Pascrell, Jr / @billpascrell : This is an extraordinary statement by our President in support of the working men and women of this country. This is history right here. #solidarity https://twitter.com/... Rep. Terri A. Sewell / @repterrisewell : Thank you for your leadership, @POTUS! 👏🏾👏🏾 @BAmazonUnion: President Biden and I firmly stand with you in your fight for the right to unionize! https://twitter.com/... Adam Schiff / @adamschiff : I stand with workers and support the unionization drive by Amazon employees in Alabama. Much of the growing economic divide in America that has workers struggling to provide for the families can be attributed to years of attacks on the right to bargain. Those days are over. https://twitter.com/... Zo Schiffer / @zoeschiffer : The Medium Workers Union fell just one vote short of the simple majority needed to win recognition. Now, the union says it plans to momentarily pause its organizing efforts: https://twitter.com/... Rep. Jimmy Gomez / @repjimmygomez : As someone who used to work for a nurses union, I know the right to organize is essential to the American workforce. As @amazon workers cast their votes, @HouseDemocrats are fighting to protect labor rights, dismantle “right-to-work” laws, and pass the #PROAct to uplift unions. https://twitter.com/... JewishDems / @usjewishdems : .@POTUS is right - every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union. https://www.cnbc.com/... Heather McGhee / @hmcghee : The zero-sum divide and conquer racial politics have been lethal for labor, and thus for the strength of the middle class. An Amazon worker win in Alabama would be earth-shaking, and it's great to see the White House speak out on the side of solidarity. https://twitter.com/... Bernie Sanders / @sensanders : If Amazon workers in Alabama - a strong anti-union state - vote to form a union, it'll be a shot heard around the world. If they can negotiate higher wages & better working conditions in the South, it'll benefit every worker in America. Thank you, Mr. President, for speaking out. https://twitter.com/... Kevin Maguire / @kevin_maguire : Stirring pro-trade union speech from @POTUS as workers in Alabama suffer intimidation from Amazon. I wish a British PM would be so forthright https://twitter.com/... Jeff Stein / @jstein_wapo : “We haven't had this aggressive and positive of a statement from a president of the United States on behalf of workers in decade,” says @fshakir, former Sanders aide and founder of @MorePerfectUS, — which released series of videos on Amazon unionization effort https://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer
BloombergJennifer Epstein
Context & Ripple Effects
The Bessemer vote is the most consequential US union election in years, and the fight over its mechanics started early: Amazon objected to the NLRB's mail-ballot decision and pushed for in-person voting during the pandemic, while flooding the warehouse with anti-union messaging — five texts a day and bathroom flyers by early February.
Biden's statement is the first time a sitting president has weighed in directly on an organizing drive at the company, and it lands mid-campaign: politicians and commentators including Bernie Sanders and Bill Pascrell are amplifying the RWDSU's case, turning a warehouse election into a national political test.
First-order effects
Amazon faces an unprecedented public rebuke from the White House at the exact moment its messaging blitz — texts, flyers, and mandatory anti-union meetings — is peaking, raising the reputational cost of each new tactic.
RWDSU gains a presidential endorsement of the workers' right to choose free of coercion, a counterweight to Amazon's resource advantage that Rutgers labor scholar Janice Fine calls dwarfed only by the company's wealth.
Second-order effects
Whatever the outcome, Amazon has already signaled it will treat the result as vindication of its employment policies, meaning even a union loss converts the campaign into talking points against further organizing.
The documented playbook — captive-audience meetings and saturation messaging detailed after the vote — becomes the reference point other employers and unions study, forcing companies facing drives to weigh legal-but-aggressive tactics against political exposure.
Third-order effects
Presidential engagement normalizes federal political muscle in private-sector union fights, a posture Biden extended a year later when he told Amazon 'here we come' after workers at Staten Island voted to unionize.
If high-profile losses keep flowing from employer spending asymmetry, pressure builds on the NLRB and Congress to revisit election rules — from ballot access to captive-audience meetings — that currently favor the employer.
The trend: US labor organizing is migrating from quiet NLRB proceedings into national politics, with presidential rhetoric becoming a live variable in whether large employers like Amazon can hold the line against unionization.
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. Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union. htt…
In Bessemer, Alabama, Amazon workers are deciding if they'll unionize their warehouse. Lots of eyes are on them. But after spending time in the town and talking to several workers, it's clear that the union is still a tough sell https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Thank you for your leadership, @POTUS! 👏🏾👏🏾 @BAmazonUnion: President Biden and I firmly stand with you in your fight for the right to unionize! https://twitter.com/...
“On the warehouse floor, according to 16 workers interviewed for this story, opinions are sharply divided, with anti-union sentiment running at least as hot as pro-union passions” @JordynJournals & @spencersoper with this excellent deep dive into the Amazon union election in AL h…
Activists rallied in the rain. Bernie Sanders sent pizzas. Teamsters are trying to convince this Amazon plant to unionize — but the workers? They're not so sure https://www.bloomberg.com/...
This is an extraordinary statement by our President in support of the working men and women of this country. This is history right here. #solidarity https://twitter.com/...
“If the RWDSU loses the campaign to unionize Amazon, you can always find some strategic missteps, but those will be dwarfed by the size of Amazon's wealth & its ability to mount an anti-union campaign” says Janice Fine, a labor studies professor at Rutgers https://www.bloomberg.c…
I stand with workers and support the unionization drive by Amazon employees in Alabama. Much of the growing economic divide in America that has workers struggling to provide for the families can be attributed to years of attacks on the right to bargain. Those days are over. https…
As someone who used to work for a nurses union, I know the right to organize is essential to the American workforce. As @amazon workers cast their votes, @HouseDemocrats are fighting to protect labor rights, dismantle “right-to-work” laws, and pass the #PROAct to uplift unions. h…
The zero-sum divide and conquer racial politics have been lethal for labor, and thus for the strength of the middle class. An Amazon worker win in Alabama would be earth-shaking, and it's great to see the White House speak out on the side of solidarity. https://twitter.com/...
If Amazon workers in Alabama - a strong anti-union state - vote to form a union, it'll be a shot heard around the world. If they can negotiate higher wages & better working conditions in the South, it'll benefit every worker in America. Thank you, Mr. President, for speaking out.…
Stirring pro-trade union speech from @POTUS as workers in Alabama suffer intimidation from Amazon. I wish a British PM would be so forthright https://twitter.com/...
“We haven't had this aggressive and positive of a statement from a president of the United States on behalf of workers in decade,” says @fshakir, former Sanders aide and founder of @MorePerfectUS, — which released series of videos on Amazon unionization effort https://twitter.com…
Union @RWDSU's @sappelbaum had called on the admin to weigh in and thanks Biden for “sending a clear message of support” for the Amazon union drive in Alabama. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
“There should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda,” @JoeBiden says in video message about Amazon employees' ongoing vote on unionization in Alabama https://www.bloomberg.com/... “every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union” @j…
You don't have to like him but as a matter of plain fact Biden is now *by far* the most pro-union president of my lifetime and the labor movement better get every last thing it can get before 2022. https://twitter.com/...
President Biden urges workers to vote in the Amazon union drive in Alabama. He doesn't outright endorse unionization, saying it's up to the workers, but makes clear he's supportive and that the company shouldn't meddle. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
When in pro union video Biden attacks anti-union intimidation and propaganda from employers he is subverting/contradicting the standard operating procedure of thousands of corporations backstopped by union hostile courts and law firms. https://twitter.com/...
Have seen some griping that Biden's language wasn't more aggressive in urging workers to vote for the union or in attacking Amazon. But there are also a lot of leaders from labor and the left lauding this bc it's further than his predecessors have gone. https://www.bloomberg.com/…