Bernie Sanders, Independent Rep. and chairman of the Senate budget committee, invited Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to appear at a committee hearing on Wednesday to discuss the union elections that are currently being held at Amazon’s largest facility, its warehouse in Alabama was

Senator Bernie Sanders tweeted, “It is unfortunate Mr. Bezos won’t join our hearing” and mentioned that he became $78 billion richer during the pandemic, while his company workers struggled and questioned why Bezos was spending so much to stop unionization at Amazon.

The Vermont senator blamed the world’s richest man of spearheading an “aggressive union-busting campaign at Bessemer. He is not the only one to do so as other celebrities and politicians have also expressed support.

President Joe Biden did not call out Amazon by name but cautioned that there should be no intimidation of workers during the voting in Alabama. He said that there should be “no intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no anti-union propaganda” and “no supervisors” should “confront employees.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar and Stacey Abrams have also lent their support to the workers at Amazon by releasing videos.

However, unionization at the second-largest employer in the country can be compared to climbing Mount Everest without oxygen. The company has a daunting history of pulverizing efforts by workers to form unions at its Whole Foods grocery stores as well as its warehouses.

Sanders said that he was calling a hearing next week on March 17, to discuss the growing crisis of inequality in wealth. During the pandemic 664 American billionaires increased their fortunes by $1.3’trillion, which is approximately 64 % of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package released by the Biden administration for aid across the nation.

Although there has been no public statement from Bezos or Amazon, on Friday CBNC said that the company confirmed that Bezos would not attend the hearing.

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