Amazon vote headed towards defeat in Alabama

NEW YORK – Amazon workers in Alabama appear to have rejected a union bid in a tight race, according to early results on Thursday. But outstanding challenged votes could change the outcome.

In New York, union supporters have the edge in a count that will continue Friday morning.

Warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, voted 993 to 875 against forming a union. The National Labor Relations Board, which oversees the election, said that 416 challenged votes could potentially overturn that result. A hearing has not been set to decide if any the challenged votes will be counted, but it is expected in the next few weeks.

“This is just the beginning and we will continue to fight,” said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is organizing the union drive in Bessemer, during a Thursday press conference.

The close election marks a sharp contrast to last year when Amazon workers overwhelmingly rejected the union.

Meanwhile, in a separate union election in Staten Island, New York, the nascent Amazon Labor Union is leading by more than 350 votes out of about 2,670 counted. Counting is expected to continue Friday morning.

If a majority votes yes at either location, it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in Amazon history. Organizers have faced an uphill battle against the nation’s second-largest private employer, which is making every effort to keep unions out.

In New York, the ALU has led the charge to form a union along with Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who leads the fledging group. Turnout for the in-person election was unclear, but Smalls was hopeful of victory.

“To be leading in Day One and be up a couple hundred against a trillion dollar company, this is the best feeling in the world,” Smalls said after the conclusion of Thursday’s counting.

Stocks finish lower Thursday to end quarter

A late burst of selling left stocks broadly lower on Wall Street on Thursday as the market closed out its worst quarter since the pandemic broke out two years ago.

Despite posting a 3.6% gain for March, a dismal January and February left U.S. indexes lower for the year to date. The S&P 500 ended the day 1.6% lower, bringing its loss since the beginning of the year to 4.9%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6% while the Nasdaq composite fell 1.5%.

Both indexes also notched gains for March, thanks largely to a market rally in the two weeks heading into this week.

Oil prices fell as President Joe Biden ordered the release of up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve.

The move to pump more oil into the market is part of an effort to control energy prices, which are up nearly 40% globally this year.

Wall Street’s downbeat finish to March comes as investors try to navigate the market risks amid surging inflation, geopolitical instability and uncertainty over how aggressively the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates to quash inflation.

“Yesterday’s weakness and some weakness today may be in response to sentiment that’s a little more cautious given the recent strength in the last two weeks and the ongoing uncertainty related to inflation and earnings,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management.

The S&P 500 fell 72.04 points to 4,530.41. The Dow fell 550.46 points to 34,678.35, and the Nasdaq slid 221.76 points to 14,220.52.

Smaller company stocks also fell. The Russell 2000 index dropped 20.94 points, or 1%, to 2,070.13.

About 85% of stocks in the benchmark S&P 500 fell. Much of the movement seemed like a “consolidation” for investors, said Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

From wire reports

“This is a little give back today just from the big run that we had, but we’re hanging in here pretty well,” Wren said. Major indexes fell on Wednesday to end a four-day winning streak.

Technology and communications stocks were among the biggest weights on the market.

Many of the companies in those sectors have pricey stock values that tend to give the broader market a more forceful push either up or down. Chipmaker Intel fell 3.6%, while Facebook parent Meta Platforms slid 2.4%.