Riding high after the election of Joe Biden, who promised to be “the most pro-union president you’ve ever seen,” the campaign by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) to unionize 6,000 workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala. was repeatedly described as a “bellwether” that could mark a union resurgence after decades of decline.
Similar significance had been ascribed to previous, high-profile union campaigns in the South: The 2017 effort by the United Auto Workers (UAW) to organize a Nissan plant in Mississippi; the 2017 attempt by the International Association of Machinists to unionize Boeing employees in South Carolina; and the efforts by the UAW to represent Volkswagen workers in Tennessee in 2014 and 2019.
But despite national media attention, celebrity endorsements, and support ranging from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to Marco Rubio (R-FL), unions fared no better in Bessemer than they did in Charleston, Chattanooga, or Canton, with Amazon employees voting against unionization in a 2-1 rout.
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