For those of you who don’t know, this is huge news because these kinds of things typically only get filed after the union advocates determine that there is overwhelming support in that workplace. There are 1500 staff in this warehouse . Alabama is one of the most anti-union states in the country.
Absolute support for these workers.
Yep.
Something else that comrades need to know/keep in mind: Amazon, and other companies, pick warehouse locations extremely strategically. They don’t just willy-nilly plop one down, or build it based on tax incentives or out of good will to a local fiefdom. The movement of materials is a major part of both cost and schedule for every company, and they spend a lot of money trying to optimize their supply chains. There’s a reason why the Longshoremen and the Teamsters have historically been such strong unions (not just because the ILEW are super radical). All of this is even more true in the era of “just in time”.
This isn’t like a Walmart store where they can just close up shop without missing a beat. Closing down a distribution warehouse has major impacts down the line. Not only do other warehouses (which are staffed at the bare minimum for their projected volume) have to suddenly pick up slack that they weren’t allocated for, everything also takes longer to ship, costs more to ship (because you’re now missing a path in the network), and makes a lot of people unhappy.
Tl;dr is that your warehouse job exists for a an extremely specific, strategic reason for your employer. They can’t just close you down like a retail branch without facing major pain. Use that power!
