Last week, Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, notified the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) of their desire to hold a union election. The 1,500-person bargaining unit would cover “all hourly full-time and regular part-time fulfillment center employees including leads and learning ambassadors.” Should the workers unionize, it would be the first Amazon warehouse in the United States to go union, a momentous advance with significance for the hundreds of thousands of people toiling in Amazon warehouses across the country.

The Bessemer workers, calling themselves the BAmazon Union, seek representation from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). As the union website states:

Having a union at Amazon would give us the right to collectively bargain over our working conditions including items such as safety standards, training, breaks, pay, benefits, and other important issues that would make our workplace better. Amazon sometimes addresses issues at work but it’s all temporary. A union contract is in writing.