By Jay Greene<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n March 12, 2021 (WashingtonPost.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will bring the high-stakes labor battle against Amazon to Washington on Wednesday, when a union-supporting worker will testify before the Senate Budget Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hearing, which will focus on income inequality, will include testimony from Jennifer Bates, who trains employees at Amazon\u2019s warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. That\u2019s the facility where 5,805 employees are in the middle of an election<\/a> to decide whether they will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders also invited Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, the world\u2019s wealthiest person, to testify at the hearing, <\/strong>but Mike Casca, a spokesman for the senator, said Amazon declined the offer Friday. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat you are seeing right now in Bessemer is an example of the richest person in this country spending a whole lot of money to make it harder for ordinary working people to live with dignity and safety,\u201d Sanders said in an interview with The Post.AD<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon has been trying to thwart unionization, even as Bezos saw his fortune climb $58 billion to $176.6 billion during the pandemic. It represents the growing chasm in income inequality that Sanders hopes the hearing will address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBezos has become a symbol of the unfettered capitalism that we are living under right now, when the very, very rich are doing phenomenally well while ordinary working people are struggling to put food on the table,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon fights aggressively to defeat union drive in Alabama, fearing a coming wave<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The battle at the Bessemer warehouse, which opened last spring, has emerged as one of the largest, and most closely watched, labor fights among private U.S. employers in recent history. The RWDSU filed in November a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold the Amazon unionization vote<\/a> and won the right to hold a seven-week mail-in election that ends March 29.AD<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro-union workers at the facility have expressed concern about the pressure to meet aggressive quotas to stow, pick and pack goods. Some workers also want Amazon to resume the $2-an-hour bonus<\/a> it instituted at the start of the pandemic but eliminated at the end of May as infection rates across the country began to stabilize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe fully endorse Senator Sanders\u2019 efforts to reduce income inequality with legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour for all workers, like we did in 2018,\u201d Amazon spokeswoman Jodi Seth said via email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thecompany has said it offers Bessemer workers generous benefits, as well as a starting pay of $15.30 an hour, well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. (Alabama has no state minimum-wage<\/a> law.) The company has claimed the union doesn\u2019t represent the views of a majority of its employees.AD<\/p>\n\n\n\n Late last month, the unionization effort got an enormous boost<\/a> from President Biden, who tweeted a video<\/a> saying workers should be able to make their decision in the election without pressure from the company. While Biden didn\u2019t name Amazon in the video, he made it clear that he supports the union drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden hails Amazon workers pressing to unionize in Alabama in unusual sign of support<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cToday and over the next few days and weeks, workers in Alabama, and all across America, are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace,\u201d Biden said. \u201cThere should be no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon has been aggressively trying to shut down the organizing drive, peppering workers with several texts a day<\/a> discouraging unionization. It has offered to pay unhappy workers<\/a> who have been with the company for a year to leave. It has even posted fliers on the door inside a bathroom stall urging them to vote no to the union.AD<\/p>\n\n\n\n The committee hearing, which begins at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, will focus on \u201cThe Income and Wealth Inequality Crisis in America.\u201d Other witnesses include former labor secretary Robert Reich; Scott Winship, director of poverty studies at the American Enterprise Institute; and Sarah Anderson, director of the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon\u2019s anti-union blitz stalks Alabama warehouse workers everywhere, even the bathroom<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders, who has been a frequent Amazon critic, wants to put a spotlight on income inequality in the United States. Coming at a time when many other Americans are struggling, Bezos\u2019s massive windfall over the past year makes him \u201cthe poster child,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the start of the pandemic, Sanders joined with three Democrat senators \u2014 Cory Booker (N.J.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Robert Menendez (N.J.) \u2014 to send Bezos a letter expressing concern<\/a> that the company isn\u2019t doing enough to protect its warehouse workers from the coronavirus outbreak.AD<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders has frequently denounced the company for paying subsistence wages to its warehouse staff. After that criticism, Amazon raised its minimum wage<\/a> to $15 an hour in 2018, though it caught heat for taking away some bonuses<\/a> and stock grants for warehouse workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Amazon workers test positive for coronavirus at 10 U.S. warehouses<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders also criticized Amazon\u2019s use of the federal tax code, saying during a 2019 presidential debate that 500,000 Americans \u201care sleeping out on the street and yet companies like Amazon that made billions in profits did not pay one nickel<\/a> in federal income tax.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sanders has supported the Bessemer drive, sending pizza<\/a> to workers at a rally last month. He believes the battle is a pivotal one for labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf they can win, I think that will send a message to workers all over this country that if you are prepared to stand up and fight, you can win a union, you can win better wages and better working conditions,\u201d Sanders said.235 Comments<\/p>\n\n\n\n washingtonpost.com<\/a> \u00a9 1996-2021 The Washington Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jeff Bezos declined to testify at the Senate Budget Committee hearing called by the Vermont independent and frequent Amazon critic. By Jay Greene March 12, 2021 (WashingtonPost.com) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will bring the high-stakes labor battle against Amazon to Washington on Wednesday, when a union-supporting worker will testify before the… Continue reading