This is a breaking news story and has been updated Amazon secured enough votes on Friday morning to defeat the union drive at its facility in Bessemer, Alabama. Of the 2,536 uncontested ballots cast, 738 approved and 1,798 rejected the proposal to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Though the RWDSU will file a challenge alleging that the company improperly tampered with the voting process, the result—a blowout—could hail the end of a hard-fought battle to make the Bessemer facility Amazon’s first unionized workplace. Advertisement The union drive originated from workers who were critical of Amazon’s grueling productivity requirements and dissatisfied with the company’s coronavirus protections. A group of them reached out to the RWDSU last summer to inquire about organizing their workplace. Roughly half of the workers at the facility then signed a petition calling for a vote in November, which got the ball rolling on the election. The mail-in voting period ran from February to March, and from the 5,805 eligible workers at the facility, 3,215 ballots were cast; 506 were contested and 76 were void. Counting began on Thursday evening, after Amazon and the union spent more than a week checking the eligibility of the submitted ballots, and was on pace to finish Friday.