Three-quarters of polled individuals support efforts to organize a union at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer, Alabama, according to a new poll released by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations and GBAO strategies.
Out of the 600 surveyed nationwide between March 28 and 30, 77 percent of respondents supported the unionization efforts, with 16 percent opposing. The party split was 96 percent of Democrats supporting and 55 percent of Republicans supporting, with 79 percent of independents supporting the Bessemer warehouse’s unionization efforts.
The survey carries a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
“In every corner of the country, working people are crying out for change,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “We aren’t just bearing the brunt of this pandemic. For decades, we’ve been bled dry by a rigged, corporate-first economy. Amazon workers in Bessemer are tearing down that system, and America is standing with them.”
The polling results come after voting closed in the organizing drive and demonstrate a significant rise in public support. In February, Data for Progress found that 69 percent of likely voters supported the unionization effort.
“This is what solidarity looks like,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). “America is standing shoulder to shoulder with Amazon workers in Bessemer. People across the country and of all backgrounds recognize the systematic injustice that Amazon is inflicting on its own workers. This fight is universal—it’s a struggle for the fundamental rights and dignities that all working people deserve.”
