Hi, I'm Dan Pramette and welcome to Axios Recap, presented by General Motors.

Today's Tuesday, March 16th. The number of daily vaccinations is up, U.S. retail sales are down,

and we're focused on an Amazon warehouse in Alabama.

Bessemer, Alabama is home to one of Amazon's U.S. fulfillment centers, those massive warehouses

where all that stuff you order is sorted, packed, and shipped.

Basically, the new nerve centers of American commerce.

But Amazon's Bessemer facility isn't just one of many.

It's ground zero for the most serious U.S. unionization push in Amazon's history,

with nearly 6,000 employees expected to vote yay or nay by a March 29th deadline.

If successful, it would embolden Amazon worker unionization efforts elsewhere.

If unsuccessful, those other labor

attempts could be still born. Four things to know. One, Amazon, which last year recorded a $21 billion

profit, does not want its fulfillment centers to be unionized, and there are reports of anti-union

tactics being deployed in Bessemer.

The company also tried but failed to persuade the National Labor Relations Board to require the votes be made in person rather than by mail.

Two, Amazon argues these employees are already well compensated,

with full-timers making more than $15 per hour plus benefits.

Union organizers, though,

say this is much about safety and other working conditions, like bathroom breaks, as it is about pay, although they obviously want the right to collectively bargain pay. Three, some Amazon

facilities in Europe have unionized, but Bessemer would be the first one in the U.S.

Four, there is some bipartisan support for the Bessemer effort.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida last week expressed support, while President

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