Amazon warehouse workers at the company’s JFK8 facility on Staten Island made history today, voting in favor of the Amazon Labor Union. Is this not glorious?
Winning at Amazon — truly breaking its power over workers and working-class communities — would be a bellwether of the strength of our movement. It’s a challenge we must meet if we are to bring about the changes our society desperately needs.
The unions attempting to represent Amazon workers at facilities in Bessemer, Ala., and Staten Island, N.Y., filed separate charges this month claiming federal labor law violations arising from the company convening mandatory anti-union meetings.
Does the ongoing campaign to unionize the Amazon Bessemer warehouse, where 85 percent of the workers are Black, portend a return to large-scale campaigns in the South?
With the victory of a coalition of reformers in the Teamsters, the union has enormous potential to organize Amazon, rebuild strength at shop floors throughout North America, and perhaps even go on strike against UPS.
A year ago, all eyes were on the unionization election at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, where illegal union suppression tactics by Amazon helped sink the drive. Thanks to a court order, that vote is about to be rerun.
Our infallible crystal ball reveals that 2022 will make workers want to holler.
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