During the Presidency of Joe Biden, when America was supposedly at the beginning of an era of progressive reform comparable to the New Deal and the Great Society, many on the left talked about a resurgence of labor unions. This resurgence was fueled by the young left-wing activists inspired by Senator Bernie Sanders and workers’ increasing resentment of their corporate overlords. One of the targets of this new labor union movement was the world’s largest internet retailer Amazon. Labor union supporters popped the champagne when an Amazon warehouse in New York was unionized in 2022. This was supposed to be the start of a union tsunami that would quickly wash over Amazon.
Things did not work out that way. Last month an Amazon plant in Garner, North Carolina held the first National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election to certify union representation at an Amazon facility since the New York victory of 2022. Having to wait three years before workers at another Amazon warehouse voted for unionizing was bad enough, but the election results were humiliating for the Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE)—the union seeking to represent the workers at the Garner site. Only 829 workers at the Amazon facility voted for representation, while 2,447 voted no. Thus, CAUSE lost by a three to one margin.
While CAUSE promised to fight on, it is hard to see how they can come back from such an overwhelming loss. Union defenders blame the loss on Amazon’s “union busting” — which mostly consisted of exposing workers to the company’s arguments against unionization. There’s no evidence of any threats or intimidation made by Amazon to any worker at the Garner facility. Some workers were likely influenced by the company’s messages, but it is highly unlikely that a majority of the workforce changed their minds because they feared reprisals from Amazon or because they had to walk across the parking lot to talk to union organizers.
Even if Amazon did intimidate pro-union workers, it would not have mattered since unions cannot be certified as the exclusive bargaining agent unless they win a secret ballot election. The secret ballot requirement is there to protect workers from threats and intimidation by management or the unions. Ironically, the only push to change the secret ballot requirement is from the unions! A provision of the Pro Act legislation, comprised of the union bosses’ policy wish list, authorizes “card check.” Card check allows a union to be certified by collecting cards supporting unionization that are signed by a majority of the employees of the targeted business. The cards count even if they are signed in front of union organizers and pro-union employees. Card check creates the very real possibility that workers will agree to unionization because they felt intimated—not because they desire union “representation.”
A National Review article by Dominic Pino explains how a pre-vote rally pointed to CAUSE’s (at the time) forthcoming defeat. The story links to a local news report that describes the rally as having “a lot of energy”, even though the crowd appears to be between 30 to 40 people holding signs in the dark. The reporter says that many of the attendees at the rally worked at the facility. As Mr. Pino pointed out, if unionization were really popular at the Garner plant, the rally would have been packed with Amazon employees. Not only were there non-Amazon employees at the rally, but some people at the rally were Amazon workers… who were at the New York warehouse that was organized in 2022!
So the high energy at this rally was generated by a crowd of less than fifty, including people from out of state who were probably paid to be there. CAUSE’s failure is the latest sign that the 20th century model of unions, rooted in the desires of workers who may no longer even work at the business, is dying. The modern workforce may not completely reject unions, but they want unions that provide them with more flexibility and opportunity to offer input into their working conditions. Instead of relying on the federal government to revive unions via legislation like the Pro Act (which would also repeal all state Right to Work laws and force many independent contractors and “gig” economy workers into unions), unions should be figuring out how to appeal to the 21st century workforce. If the unions fail to adapt they will be replaced by other forms of worker organizations that can meet the needs of the modern workforce.
