Amazon had keys in the USPS mailbox used to select affiliate votes: Report | Science and Technology Issues

A mailbox, located near the entrance to the Amazon, has served as an important testament to the agreement to tackle elections.

Security guards at Amazon.com Inc.’s warehouse in Alabama he had keys in a mailbox that the company encouraged workers to use to send their votes to the top union election earlier this year, an employee said Friday at a meeting of the National Labor Relations Board.

Kevin Jackson, who has worked at the Bessemer reserve for over a year, said he saw two guards approaching the mailbox and using the keys to open his door. A mailbox, located near the entrance to the Amazon, has become an important component of the agreement to address the issue.

In a lawsuit filed on April 16, Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union accused Amazon of misconduct – including offering anti-union threats, dismissing contract card dealers and forcing employees to use the box to vote.

A mailbox was provided by the U.S. Postal Service at Amazon’s request, and agency officials criticized the company for having the box in place to monitor working voters. National law prohibits the oversight of corporate elections. The agreement also states that the establishment of the mailbox created the impression that Amazon is “overseeing the electoral system,” according to an April 30 order from the head of the operations monitoring committee.

Amazon has always denied the illicit intentions of requesting a mailbox, saying it was set up to support a strong presence. “This mailbox – which only USPS owned – was an easy, secure, and completely selective way for employees to vote, no more,” the company said in a statement last month.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Jackson’s remarks.

The “cluster” mailbox has several doors and locks. Jackson said on his way home from work one morning he saw guards coming into the box, after which one of them used the key to open a large box at the bottom called “1P.” “What he was going out or looking for, I’m not sure,” he said.

Amazon workers voted 1,798 to 738 to exclude the union by selecting seven weeks of letters that ended in March. The working committee has the power to approve the outcome of elections by responding to procedures that may alter the outcome and prevent participants from freely choosing to agree or not.