WHY RESTAURANTS SHOULD CARE ABOUT AMAZON’S UNION VOTE
President Biden campaigned on a promise to accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations. The nation reached his goal of inoculating 100 million Americans in roughly half the 100 days he set as an aspirational time frame.
The favorite son of Delaware also vowed to get aid to the millions of American citizens and businesses that caught an Ali-scale haymaker during the pandemic. Knock one lie off the list of the Big Three. This time, the checks really are in the mail, and the Small Business Administration is scrambling to get $29 billion in grants to restaurants from the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
Regardless of your politics, props are due the president for delivering on promises of that scale. And that’s why the industry’s attention should be focused like a laser on the aftermath of what happened this week at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.
About 3,200 people out of the roughly 6,000 employed in the facility voted yea or nay this week on unionizing. The situation was widely seen as a referendum on organized labor’s appeal in an economy that bears little resemblance to the manufacturing-centric days of a century or so ago, the heyday of organizing. Amazon is no coal mine or steel plant, which made it a proxy of sorts for other service businesses. Like chain restaurants.
President Biden acknowledged as much when he made the extraordinary move a few weeks ago of voicing support for unionizing the Amazon facility. He called the vote “vitally important,” and noted that the results hold profound implications for workers “all across America.” His comments drew thanks and praise from the union that was hoping to represent the Amazon workers in future contract negotiations.
The federal chief executive’s actions weren’t a surprise to regular Biden watchers. On the eve of the presidential election, he publicly promised to be “the most pro-union president you've ever seen," a pledge as strong as his vow to step up vaccinations and get COVID relief to American families and businesses.