Following the close on 29 March of a more than month-long unionization poll of Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, the vote counting process has commenced and the results are expected in the next few days. The event marks a major advance for the American labour movement with the Tech industry representing a significant testing ground for the trade union organizations. The Tech industry employs a great number of workers and their membership could help reinvigorate struggling trade union organizations. Furthermore, Tech worker demands differ from the more traditional claims for salary increases. That's why the School of Industrial Relations (IRL) at Cornell University (New York) organized the 'Unionization in Big Tech: Why Now?' conference on 25 March, that gathered together many experts as well as union activists from Amazon and Alphabet to discuss various facets of the changing labour landscape in the U.S.
The event was an opportunity for Jessica Garcia, assistant to the president of the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), to talk about her organisation’s campaign to set up shop in a large Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, a city in the state of Alabama. Its 5,800 employees have had until today – 29 March – to vote on whether they want to be represented by the union (see article n°12314). Meanwhile Chewy Shaw, another of the attendees, is vice-chair of the Alphabet Workers Union (AW
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