Amazon Labor Union Leads Organizing Wave

At the beginning of May, Amazon workers voted against unionization at a sorting center on Staten Island. Just a little more than a month earlier, down the road at the JFK8 facility, 2,600 workers voted to become the first unionized Amazon workers in the country. So there was great hope for striking a double blow against Amazon.

Before the vote, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, rallied in front of the newly unionized Amazon warehouse to share their support for the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and encourage workers who were about to vote. Christian Smalls, who launched the successful Amazon union, kicked off the event. He stood on a makeshift stage and talked about how his union was in a long term struggle for the dignity of Amazon workers.

“Without these workers organizing, without this victory that we had on April 1st, without us spending the last year at this bus stop right over here, none of this would be possible. So we can’t forget where we came from. How we started. This is a long journey that started two years ago for myself and others, one year ago for the ALU.” Smalls said.  

Senator Sanders took to the stage to chants of, “Bernie!” Sanders praised the new union and encouraged other Amazon workers to join. “What you have done, in taking on Amazon, and having this facility here in Staten Island, the very first Amazon facility to unionize in the entire country, is an extraordinary achievement. You have taken on one of the most powerful corporations in America. They spent millions of dollars trying to defeat you. You are taking on one of the wealthiest guys in America, worth 170 billion dollars, and you beat them.”  

He highlighted union votes at Starbucks to talk about a new wave of labor activism. “What this struggle is about is not just Amazon Staten Island. This is the struggle that is taking place all across this country. Working people are sick and tired of falling further and further behind while billionaires like Bezos become much richer.” 

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also got warm applause from the crowd. She called on Amazon to accept its loss in the first Staten Island facility and negotiate a contract with the union. Amazon has asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to review the vote and the case was assigned to the NLRB in Arizona. The Amazon Labor Union has accused Amazon of “intimidating [workers] into signing statements of ‘evidence’ in order to try to overturn the election.” Ocasio Cortez also lambasted Amazon’s tactics that killed a union effort at a facility in Bessemer, Alabama.

“What we need Amazon to do first and foremost is to recognize the union that won their election fair and square. In Bessemer they changed the street lights, in Bessemer they messed with the post office. And they’ll recognize that loss, but when these workers win fair and square they refuse to recognize their victories. So first and foremost, Jeff Bezos, Amazon, everybody, we’ve got to recognize the fact that they did this thing.” 

To the organizer’s disappointment, the rally didn’t result in a win for the union at the second Staten Island Amazon warehouse. But they are not giving up. Senator Sanders invited union leader Chris Smalls to a Senate Budget Committee hearing. Sanders raised the question about whether federal contracts should be granted to companies engaged in illegal anti-union activities. 

But the ranking committee member, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham made it clear in his opening remarks that he sees the issue differently. “If we take this body back, this demonization of individual companies that are subject to the law will cease,” Graham said. “There’s a process in this country, if you feel like the law has been violated in your efforts to unionize the workforce, you can file a complaint… The idea that you can only get a government contract if you are neutral is ridiculous.” 

Chris Smalls began his testimony offering a candid warning to Graham, saying that the “process” doesn’t work. “You forgot that the people are the ones who make these companies operate. If we’re not protected and if the process for when we hold these companies accountable is not working for us, then that’s the reason that I am here today. That’s the reason that I’m here to represent the workers who make these companies go. And I think that it’s in your best interest to realize that it’s not a left or a right thing… you should listen because we do represent your constituents as well.”

Earlier in May at the Staten Island rally, Sen. Sanders was asked whether the Biden administration needs to be doing more to support unions. “Yes.” Sanders said plainly. “To his credit Biden has talked about unions more than any other president in my lifetime. But talk is not enough. What he has got to do is start inviting these guys to the White House. He’s got to invite the Starbucks workers to the White House, the other unions that are organizing all around this country, and make it clear that he is on their side, and that he is going to do what he can to support labor organizing around this country.” 

President Biden did later invite Chris Smalls to the White House. Smalls met the president after his appearance before the committee. Biden greeted Smalls and said, “You’re trouble, man. You’re my kind of trouble.” Smalls replied, “Yeah, I am. Good trouble.”

Back on Staten Island, Smalls and other Amazon organizers are not giving up. Derrick Palmer, the Chairman of the Workers Committee for the Amazon Labor Union said the fight is far from over. “I’m upset, you know, but I’m also optimistic, because we have other facilities across the country that want to unionize… We started a revolution at JFK8 by winning.”