A Union Fails in Alabama. Why?

Sometimes I just wonder. Sometimes I want to know why people won't do what's good for them.

Fear must be the answer. Fear of the unknown. Fear of change. Fear of doing something that makes someone else uncomfortable, if only for a while but for good reason.

A union tried to organize in an Amazon workplace in Alabama. It followed the rules and didn't deviate. There were plenty of workers who were tired of what Amazon was doing to them: Mainly, controlling their whole worklives. 

They needed room to breathe. They organized.

They got shot down, decisively, by more than 2 to 1. Amazon workers make $15 per hour, which of course is what social justice advocates have been fighting for--the "Fight for 15"--for years now. It's double the rate of the federal minimum wage rate, which is an embarrassment and a disgusting tokenism, as bad as not having a minimum wage at all. $15 per hour is a major advantage, and Amazon exploited that to the max, as well as its advantage in holding worker meetings In which it stressed the benefits of operating without a union.

The employer stressed that the workers can still make that kind of money without paying dues, and they get health insurance as well. But what about the possibilities of making more money, with collective bargaining? What about some control over the health insurance provider? What about controls on worker observation so that people feel they don't have eyes on them every second of every day?

But then, it's Alabama. It's the Deep South. Attitudes are different. I learned that personally.

I worked for unions in Arkansas and Texas. It hasn't taken what Scott Walker and Wisconsin Republicans did to unionization here to repress membership and reduce power. The combination of tradition and reluctance has taken its toll.

People do not brag about being in a union in those states. Their attitudes are far more reserved, even apologetic. Someone like me barges in there and discovers that the brakes are put on right from the start.

Never mind that there is no need to take that approach. There is no need to apologize for standing up for oneself and declaring that your dignity be observed. To do that, there is only one thing to do: Get to the bargaining table and start making proposals. And to do that, there is only one thing to do: Get the numbers you need for recognition and keep building on them.

There was more at stake at Amazon in Alabama than just money. There was a feeling, one that follows people around wherever they work, every single day: the idea that no one, in end, has your back--or that someone always has your back. Nothing unfair can dissolve that. You'll have a defense regardless.

But paternalization wins out more often than not. People are drawn in by the friendly, conciliatory mannerisms which have little, if any, substance to them but which tend to calm justifiable fears. 

I said this once to new teachers in Missouri, for which I was castigated (for style, I think, since I was pretty assertive at that moment; when I speak, I can be pretty assertive) but I still so stand: In the end, will the principal stand up for you or for himself or herself? Whose job will they go to the wall for? Will you feel that much better when they, with a smile, guide you to the door for the last time and wish you good luck? Will you be less out of a job? Don't you need protection, then?

People are easily played: our last president knows that. He's bamboozled millions for years. He knows they're gullible. Say the right thing at the right time, and you deflect them from understanding that their money can be his, or get transferred to someone with more power than they have, and they won't know it until their coffers are empty. Then it's too late.

Unions do not solve all problems. They cannot win all cases. But they can provide a bulwark of protection by guaranteeing that employers live by what they promise on paper, not by clever persuasion. The relationship then reverts to two indelible words: We agreed.

You can be as cynical as you want about it, but you can also conclude that, because of federal law in fact, not only are union leaders elected, but the elections are protected from unfair interference (they weren't once, but that's ancient history) by the Landrum-Griffin Act. In other words, it's as democratic as you can get.

Except the issue was, and usually will be in such elections, that Amazon complained about the authenticity of several hundred ballots. As long as you're winning, you might as well control the process as well. That's to warn other subsidiaries that might have more union certification votes that they would do well to complain ahead of time, too.

It wouldn't have mattered, of course. Because of unknown boogeymen, hundreds of Amazon workers in Alabama missed out on a great opportunity to protect themselves and their jobs for the remainder of their careers. They remain liable to the employer, and the employer alone, for their job statuses. They don't realize it, but it's like playing with loaded dice. Every so often, without prior knowledge or warning, it's just going to come up snake eyes.

Even though it's in their best interests. Even though it's the best thing they could do for themselves. Drives me crazy sometimes.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark