Birmingham (United States) (AFP)

The American elected Bernie Sanders will try Friday to mobilize the hesitant employees of an Amazon warehouse in Alabama where a vote is underway to decide to create a union, which would be a first for the giant of the online commerce in the States -United.

"If the Amazon workers in Alabama can manage to form a union, it can be done across the country," said the independent senator from Vermont, a figure of the American progressives, on Twitter.

After months of mobilization of certain employees, the approximately 5,800 employees of the Bessemer warehouse are called upon to send a bulletin by post by March 29 to decide whether they want to be represented by a union.

The Seattle group is not officially opposed to unions but is campaigning against them.

On the site, called BHM1, posters in the toilets encourage employees not to unionize, as does a website called "Do it without dues" (DoItWithoutDues).

At the announcement of the arrival of Bernie Sanders, who will be accompanied by rapper Killer Mike and actor Danny Glover, a senior Amazon official attacked him on Twitter.

"I often say that we are the Bernie Sanders of employers, but that's not quite right because we are really building a progressive workplace," Dave Clark, consumer boss, said ironically on Wednesday. of the company.

- Major American employer -

"So if you want to hear about a salary of $ 15 an hour and health insurance, the senator will speak downtown. But if you want to make at least $ 15 an hour and have a good health coverage, Amazon is hiring, ”he continued.

The company argues over and over that it pays its employees more than double the minimum wage in Alabama.

The e-commerce but also technology giant is the second largest employer in the United States, with 800,000 people, mainly workers and technicians in its logistics centers.

The effort at Bessemer, a site that employs overwhelmingly African Americans, has been the subject of media coverage and tensions comparable to a political campaign, as attempts to organize in the group's warehouses have failed. until now.

The American press recently reported that the vote was undoubtedly going to play on the ability of the distribution union (RWDSU) to mobilize the young employees of the site, deemed to be more reluctant than their elders to rely on a union and pay. contributions.

Employees in favor of the "yes" want more bargaining power, especially regarding their working conditions, but also financial.

- Pee breaks -

"I would love to know why the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, is spending millions trying to prevent workers from organizing," Bernie Sanders retorted to Dave Clark on Twitter.

"We would like to know why the minimum wage in Vermont is ONLY $ 11.75, when the senator has been one of the most powerful politicians (in the state) for over 30 years," he said. Amazon director Thursday.

"The senator should spare us his sermons as long as he is not up to par at home."

Amazon has obviously decided to go on the offensive in public, after a year of pandemic devoted to recruiting hard, offering risk premiums linked to Covid-19 and highlighting its role in household supply confined to essential products.

"You don't really believe (the myth) of employees peeing in bottles? If that was true, no one would work for us," Amazon's news account said on Wednesday in response to a tweet from an elected Democrat who was indignant at the anti-union tactics of the group.

The biting message was greeted by a flood of photos and counter-attacks on the part of journalists and activists attesting to the reality of the problem of infernal rates which do not leave time for certain employees, in particular delivery men, to find their way. go to the toilet and force them to use plastic bottles.

© 2021 AFP