Biden hails Amazon workers pressing to unionize in Alabama in unusual sign of support - The Washington Post

SEATTLE — President Biden gave Amazon warehouse staff in Alabama fighting to join a union their biggest support yet, tweeting a video Sunday night saying workers should be able to make their decision in the election without pressure from the company.

More than 5,800 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., are in the middle of a seven-week voting period to determine whether they want the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union to represent them.

Although Biden didn’t name Amazon in the video, he made it clear that he supports the union drive.

“Today and over the next few days and weeks, workers in Alabama, and all across America, are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace,” Biden said.

And he exhorted employers to refrain from taking any sort of steps that might pressure workers from supporting a union.

Although many of Amazon’s European warehouse workers are union members, the e-commerce giant has successfully fended off organized labor at its U.S.

In early February, staffers at a new media advocacy outlet called More Perfect Union told White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain in a phone call that Biden should speak out on behalf of the Amazon union drive.

Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the founder of More Perfect Union, which has released a series of videos on the Amazon unionization drive.

The union trying to organize the Amazon workers expressed gratitude to Biden on Sunday night.