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Amazon union election should get a redo, NLRB hearing officer reportedly finds

The findings recommend setting aside the results in an election in which Amazon prevailed over a union organizing effort in Alabama. Monday’s recommendations aren’t final.

The results of the historic union election at an Alabama Amazon warehouse should be set aside, a hearing officer from the National Labor Board Relations said in recommendations released Monday, according to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The findings address complaints from the union alleging the company misled and threatened workers in violation of federal labor law. The union sought to represent thousands of workers at one Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, but lost by a ratio of more than 2-to-1 in April.

Both parties have the opportunity to file exceptions to the findings before the regional director considers the findings, evidence and party filings and releases a decision. The decision can then be appealed to the national Labor Board, where a panel of commissioners could rule on the case.

The NLRB didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

«Our employees had a chance to be heard during a noisy time when all types of voices were weighing into the national debate, and at the end of the day, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of a direct connection with their managers and the company,» an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. «Their voice should be heard above all else, and we plan to appeal to ensure that happens.»

«The question of whether or not to have a union is supposed to be the workers’ decision and not the employer’s,» said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU. «Amazon’s behavior throughout the election process was despicable.»

The union complained that Amazon broke federal labor law in several ways in the lead-up to the election, which had the potential to create the e-commerce giant’s first unionized workforce in the US. Lawyers for the union said Amazon unlawfully threatened to lay people off and close the warehouse. The union also took issue with a mailbox Amazon had the US Postal Service install on its premises outside the warehouse, which the company then turned into an ad hoc voting booth with a tent surrounding it on three sides and banners urging workers to vote.

The mailbox was a metal cabinet with several slots and not a standard blue box with a USPS logo on it. The union argued it gave the impression that Amazon was involved in collecting ballots, which could have affected the vote. During the hearing over the union’s complaints, a worker testified that he’d seen Amazon workers access the mailbox. Amazon countered that it only had access to compartments that contained incoming mail addressed to the company.

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Square Enix’s Next Game Blends Among Us-Like Murder Mystery With Bloody Carnage

Unveiled at Summer Game Fest, Killer Inn is an upcoming multiplayer murder mystery pitting players against each other in the search for the true killers.

Bet you didn’t have this one on your bingo list. Developed by Tactic Studios in partnership with Square Enix, the game was unveiled during the Summer Game Fest livestream, and it’s far from the famed RPG maker’s bread and butter. Killer Inn, as it’s called, is a multiplayer murder mystery that takes Among Us-like gameplay and ratchets it up by handing players knives, guns and many other weapons to kill or be killed while they search for the original killer.

Killer Inn might be one of those games that is best understood after playing a few matches, but even from the reveal trailer, there’s a lot going on. In each match, 24 players enter a sprawling castle-turned-hotel to determine who the real killers are as they’re picked off one by one. There’s deduction and mayhem aplenty.

Killer Inn’s play phases are patterned after detective-style games, from Among Us to Ultimate Werewolf to Mafia. A match begins with most players as cooperative participants («lambs,» in Killer Inn’s parlance) mixed with a few secret killers («wolves»). Players complete tasks to earn tokens redeemable for items and weapons, while the killers quietly go about their business — until someone discovers a body. On the corpse are clues left by the killer, so the lambs can try deducing the true culprit (or culprits).

Then it’s all about collecting clues and identifying the wolves — but unlike Among Us, there’s no group discussion to present evidence or vote them out. Killer Inn skips the parlor scene and dives straight into action: If you’re sure someone’s the killer, take them out. Use those token-bought guns and blades to put down the villain. Unless you accidentally murder one of your innocent teammates — in which case, you’re turned to stone for the rest of the match. Bummer.

Lambs have another win condition: assembling four keys to escape on the ship that brought them to the murder island. There are other mechanics, too, like finding relative safety in rooms with hotel staff, who will identify any wolves that kill lambs in their line of sight.

Players can choose between 25 premade characters that each have their own unique appearances and abilities, the latter of which improve as the match goes on, often reflecting the nefarious dark sides of the participants. For example, Winston is a surgeon who kills more efficiently with knives and, when leveled up, deals extra damage while covered in blood. The Otaku, by contrast, gains 25 HP from finding clues and eventually builds resistance to status effects. Levels don’t carry over between matches — everyone starts fresh at level one.

Killer Inn doesn’t have a release date, but the game will kick off a closed beta test over Steam in the near future. 

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Resident Evil 9 Revealed at Summer Game Fest After Early Fake-Out

Resident Evil Requiem is the next entry in Capcom’s survival horror series.

After a fake-out earlier in Summer Game Fest on Friday, Resident Evil Requiem, or Resident Evil 9, was shown for the first time. 

The new title is the first mainline entry since Capcom released Resident Evil Village in 2021, and is rumored to feature series stalwart Leon Kennedy. In the trailer, the only person we saw was a character named Grace Ashcroft, who works for the FBI and appears to have ties to Raccoon City.

For the most hardcore Resident Evil fans, the name Ashcroft will ring a bell. Alyssa Ashcroft was one of the survivors of the online-only title, Resident Evil Outbreak for the PS2. Alyssa was a journalist who was trapped in Raccoon City during the events of Resident Evil 2, and she, along with other survivors, had to escape the city before it was destroyed. 

Grace is Alyssa’s daughter, and in the trailer, she is going to visit the Remwood Hotel, where Alyssa was murdered. Later in the trailer, images from what appears to be the remnants of a destroyed Raccoon City are shown, so it appears Resident Evil 9 will return to where the series started. 

Leon’s return is a big deal for the series, which has made some of its best games with him in the starring (or co-starring) role. He first showed up as a rookie cop in Resident Evil 2, which built on the original game’s success with more story and improved monsters and level design.

He showed up again in Resident Evil 4, which took the series in a new direction by introducing an over-the-shoulder perspective, instead of the usual static camera angles and tank controls. Leon was also one of several playable protagonists in Resident Evil 6, a game that seemed to forget about its survival horror roots. We mostly don’t talk about that one.

But the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 was an excellent return to form, bringing RE4’s gameplay and much better graphics to a fan-favorite entry. The RE4 remake was a similar success.

Resident Evil Requiem is set to drop Feb. 27, 2026, for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, but we’re hoping to get our hands on it this weekend. If you want to catch up on older Resident Evil games, Capcom is having a sale that includes basically all the games, including Village and the three remakes.

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