Leaflets confiscated.

Burnt T-shirts.

They shouted videotaped accusations.

The tangled story of union advocates trying to organize an Amazon warehouse in Alabama took another turn last week. when an administrative judge ordered a third union election in Bessemer — more than two years after the last vote count.

Amazon has vowed to appeal the ruling, meaning it could be some time before anything is resolved — including determining the final vote totals in the last election, which was held on March 31, 2022.

But hidden in Judge Michael Silverstein’s 87-page ruling handed down last Tuesday are some glimpses of Bessemer’s high-stakes workplace vote, which pitted old-style organizing tactics against a $2 trillion tech guise from the XXI century.

Silverstein found six unfair labor practices and two post-election objections from the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU). After nearly two weeks of testimony over three months, Silverstein dismissed 15 of the union’s complaints and nine objections. He also rejected two of Amazon’s objections, while the company withdrew five others.

But he also documented the struggle to unionize a massive 885,000-square-foot facility with about 6,000 hourly workers — many of whom stayed less than a year on the job.

Here’s full coverage of Alabama Amazon’s unionization effort

Topic of the week

Silverstein, in his ruling, called Amazon’s “Vote No” campaign “full-on,” with the company bringing in 20 employee relations professionals and eight paid consultants. Their job – to cover the warehouse, where 20 million retail items are stored, with posters, send mass text messages and engage workers in group sessions and one-on-one conversations.

The meetings, for example, took place in training rooms in small groups of 50 people for 30 minutes. Employees were paid during sessions and their badges were scanned upon entry. During the meetings, workers heard about the “topic of the week,” giving the company’s position on unionization. Amazon said these sessions are not mandatory, but some employees testified that they were told by managers that attendance was not optional.

Paid consultants also spoke to individual employees on the floor or during breaks. By Amazon’s count, 18,631 of those pledges had taken place by the time of the election.

Employees also received “Text-Em-Alls,” or TEAs — text blasts to the entire workforce, similar to those they received for COVID protocols or weather warnings.

When the company received reports in January 2022 that union representatives were visiting employees at home, they sent a text that said: “When these people contact you either by phone or at home, it is your decision. whether to talk to them. The law allows unions to make inaccurate and untrue statements and promises when trying to get your vote. If it sounds too good to be true, it may be. We encourage you to do your own research.”

Messages such as “VOTE NOW and VOTE ‘NO'” followed employees into the bathroom.

“A smile on his face”

The union responded with its own tactics. Instead of the national media attention of the first campaign, which featured stars like actor Danny Glover and rapper Killer Mike making appearances, the focus remained on employee interaction. The union provided regular updates via Twitter, held weekly meetings with workers at the nearby Fairfield Inn, ran phone banks and secured 100 organizers for home visits with employees.

Union supporters displayed banners, brought a van with LED screens to the parking lot to display messages of encouragement, handed out T-shirts and used megaphones.

In one memorable example, supporters projected the word “YES” onto the side of the building next to the company’s large “VOT” banner for more than two hours one night in February.

Tensions were high, according to the decision documents. On February 11, 2022, union supporters were handing out t-shirts in the parking lot. A man wearing a company lanyard approached, asking for a shirt. Minutes later, workers spotted the burning shirt in the parking lot, the man “leaning against a pole with his arms crossed and a smile on his face.”

This came at the same time as a video recording an altercation on February 11 between pro-union and pro-company employees. An employee in a yellow vest tried to record a video of union supporters with a meg and was told he was breaking labor law. The employee with the phone who took the video denied the allegation and the two yelled obscenities at each other.

Silverstein noted that while Amazon sent a text asking employees to report harassment by union members, it did not acknowledge the T-shirt incident.

Union members also posted fliers in restrooms and bathrooms, which ultimately led to one of the objections that marred the election. Silverstein said in his opinion that Amazon ran a “relentless anti-union campaign during both the 2021 and 2022 elections, specifically targeting Union fliers “and only Union fliers” in its showrooms. The seizure was illegal, he said.

A close call

One incident illustrates the problems of determining when a labor law violation occurs. A worker wearing a union button was approached by a company representative and asked how she felt about “union stuff.” She told him she had no opinion, he asked if she was sure, if she had any questions for him, and moved on.

While the company representative denied asking the employee for her name or to see her ID badge, Silverstein noted that his explanations seem “unpersuasive.” The judge wrote that the incident was a “close call” under labor law, but ruled it was a violation because of the nature of the information sought by the “union business” question.

Another company representative, according to testimony, told employees he didn’t see why Amazon would keep the fulfillment center open if it voted for a union because it has so many other facilities that aren’t unionized. This was a violation “given the absence of an objective fact” in the statement and an “unlawful threat” to close the plant.

If the third union election is ordered, the RWDSU will face at least one fact against it – the last two elections have been held for the company. The final vote total was closer, with initial results showing 875 votes for RWDSU representation, 993 votes against. Another 311 ballots remain contested, even though the elections have already been annulled.