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President Joe Biden on Sunday expressed support for workers organizing a union vote at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in Alabama.
Without specifically naming Amazon, Biden said in a video posted on Twitter on Sunday night that the organization effort “is vitally important” and urged workers to “make your voice heard.”
“Let me be really clear: It’s not up to me to decide whether anyone should join a union,” Biden said. “But let me be even more clear: It’s not up to an employer to decide that either. The choice to join a union is up to the workers — full stop, full stop.”
Nearly 6,000 workers at Amazon’s AMZN, +1.17% facility in Bessemer, Ala., started voting on whether to unionize earlier this month. It’s the first major union drive at an Amazon facility since 2014. Ballots must be submitted to the National Labor Relations Board by March 29.
Stuart Applebaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, thanked Biden in a statement Sunday night “for sending a clear message of support for the Amazon Union workers in Alabama seeking to bring the first union to an Amazon warehouse.”
