Challenged ballots leave outcome in doubt of Amazon union vote in Alabama
CBSN
The final results of the highly-contested union election at Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama, facility remain unclear as hundreds of challenged ballots head to the national labor board for investigation.
The initial count showed a majority voted against unionization, with about 52% of returned ballots coming in favor of joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and 48% voting against. Just 39% of the 6,000 worker facility returned ballots.
But the number of challenged ballots, 416, is enough to change the outcome and will need to be investigated by the NLRB before a final tally is reached. RWDSU president Stuart Applebaum said that both the union and Amazon had challenged ballots.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.