As the historic rerun election at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. unfolds, several employees opposing the organizing effort elaborated their misgivings with Buzzfeed, revealing pervasive anxiety that collective bargaining might undermine the facility’s prevailing levels of pay and benefits.

These employees’ concern reflects the potency of the unlawful antiunion tactics Amazon has unleashed, which have rattled employees and left many “afraid of losing pay, afraid of losing benefits, or their job,” as one organizer explained it. Ballots were mailed to thousands of eligible employees last month, which will be counted in a couple weeks.

On Tuesday the Senate overwhelmingly approved the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act, which was passed by the House last month. The measure, endorsed by the major postal unions, is designed to shore up the Postal Services’ finances, as the agency has been operating at a loss for years. Yet, forged in the crucible of bipartisan negotiations, experts predict the bill will likely fail to significantly ameliorate the Service’s deeply rooted financial troubles. 

Even so, unions representing hundreds of thousands of letter carriers embraced the measure, describing it as “a monumental victory” for their members and “one of the most critical pieces of postal legislation in modern history.”