The National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday said evidence submitted by the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) “could be grounds for overturning” Amazon.com Inc’s union election in Alabama if introduced at a hearing.
The labor board will hold a hearing on May 7 to consider objections filed by the RWDSU, which failed to secure enough votes from Amazon warehouse workers to form a union.
The vote count announced on April 9 showed that workers at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse rejected the union by a more than 2-to-1 margin.
“The evidence submitted by the union in support of its objections could be grounds for overturning the election if introduced at a hearing,” the labor board said.
The RWDSU submitted nearly two dozen objections to Amazon’s conduct during the election, which it said prevented employees from a “free and uncoerced exercise of choice” on whether to create the company’s first U.S. union.
The RWDSU alleged that Amazon’s agents unlawfully threatened employees with closure of the warehouse if they joined the union and that the company emailed a warning it would lay off 75% of the proposed bargaining unit because of the union.
Amazon, which has denied the allegations, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington Editing by Chris Reese and Sonya Hepinstall)