Amazon Loses Effort to Install Camera to Watch Counting of Ballots in Pivotal Union Vote
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for Runaway1956:
Amazon loses effort to install camera to watch counting of ballots in pivotal union vote:
The National Labor Relations Board on Monday rejected Amazon's request to install a video camera to keep an eye on boxes containing thousands of ballots key to a high-stakes union election in Alabama.
The closely-watched union election in Bessemer, Alabama, concluded on Monday. Approximately 5,800 workers at the facility in Bessemer were eligible to vote to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Vote counting begins at 11 a.m. ET on Tuesday, but the final tally may be days or weeks away, as Amazon and the RWDSU can contest ballots.
Amazon had sought to place a video camera in the NLRB's Birmingham office, where votes will be tabulated, to keep an eye on the ballot boxes in the off hours between counting, according to an NLRB order denying Amazon's request. The camera feed would have been accessible by both Amazon and the RWDSU.
"Though the mail ballot election in this matter is large, it is not, as the Employer asserts, of a 'special nature,'" Lisa Henderson, acting regional director for the NLRB, said in the ruling. "The Region will conduct the ballot count within view of observers participating via virtual platform as well as in-person observers, and in accordance with Agency procedures and protocols, including those for securing ballot boxes."
[...] Counting will kick off Tuesday morning via a private video conference, presided over by the NLRB and with Amazon and the RWDSU allowed four observers each to monitor the count.
During this portion, the NLRB will read off each voter's name and both sides will be allowed to contest ballots, likely based on factors such as whether an employee's job title entitles them to vote or an illegible signature. Any contested ballots will be set aside.
Once this portion is complete, the NLRB will begin to count the unchallenged ballots in a public session open to members of the media. To win, the union needs to secure a simple majority of the votes cast at Amazon's Bessemer warehouse, known as BHM1.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.