Vote to unionise at Amazon Alabama warehouse fails

A contentious unionisation drive at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama failed as a vote count Friday showed a wide majority of workers rejecting the move.

In a vote count seen online, National Labor Relations Board officials counted more than 1,608 "no" votes shortly before 1500 GMT, representing a majority of the 3,215 ballots cast.

Slightly more than 600 votes favoured the unionisation effort organised by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

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The results cap a bitterly contested, months-long organizing drive which drew national attention and would have resulted in the first union at a US-based Amazon facility.

Activists and political leaders supported the union drive, citing concerns over a high-pressure environment in which workers are constantly monitored.

Amazon contended that a majority did not want a union, and claimed that it already delivered above-average benefits and salary.

The union said it would challenge the outcome, saying that Amazon "created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees' freedom of choice."