The big issue for Amazon warehouse workers isn’t money—it’s autonomy

Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, voted against unionizing last week, with a decisive majority opting not to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The decision, with a vote of 738 employees in favor to 1,798 against, was a blow to labor advocates who had been hoping that unionization at the site might inspire a wave of elections among the more than 500,000 Amazon warehouse workers in the US. One of Amazon’s talking points in the run-up to the Bessemer vote was that the starting pay for warehouse workers is $15.30, plus medical benefits—the implication being that the company pays a reasonable wage and that workers therefore ought to have no need to unionize.