The Amazon Effect: Will the Amazon Labor Union's Victory In Staten Island Spur More Organizing?
Some labor pundits seem to think so...
Last Friday’s “David vs. Goliath” union victory at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York has some labor media pundits reporting and predicting more union organizing will come as a result.
In this post, we have compiled several of the news articles indicating what some may refer to as the “Amazon Effect"—greater unionizing activity at employers, including Amazon.
Bloomberg Business: Amazon Warehouse Workers Just Redefined What’s Possible for U.S. Labor
“…If Amazon, the consummate on-top-of-things company, can get bested after spending $4 million last year on labor relations consultants, then other companies may be more vulnerable to organizing than they’ve long seemed. On the flip side, this achievement by ALU, which had far less money and no track record compared to old-school union leaders, means leaders of the nation’s long-shrinking labor movement have some soul-searching to do.”
Also…
“The workers are ahead of us, and we’ve got to run to catch up to them,” says Sara Nelson, the president of the Communications Workers of America’s Association of Flight Attendants. Her campaign to unionize Delta had already been buoyed by an influx of activists inspired by the efforts at Amazon and Starbucks, where workers at several cafes have now won their own unexpected victories.
Bloomberg Equity: Amazon Union Win in NYC Holds Potential to Spread Far and Wide
“…Smalls is emerging as a folk hero and potential guide to frontline workers all across the country, people who toiled through a dangerous pandemic and are now looking to redress the power imbalance between themselves and their employers.”
Seattle Times: Rallied by Amazon union’s win, Seattle workers see surge in unionization
“…a group of security workers who have contracts with Amazon, Microsoft and Sound Transit are taking a similar tack, hoping to use the swell of enthusiasm created by Amazon workers in Staten Island to bring more workers in Seattle into the union fold.”
Socialist Alternative: Amazon Defeated in New York City – Unionize Amazon Everywhere!
“With victory in sight [in Bessemer, AL] and millions looking toward Starbucks and Amazon workers in their fight for a union, Amazon workers everywhere should take discussions of these historic breakthroughs with their coworkers further by assembling organizing committees across every department in their workplaces to discuss concrete demands like a $30 hourly wage, ending mandatory overtime and abolishing the company’s intensive labor-tracking regime. ALU has a special responsibility to help broaden this fight by calling mass meetings of workers nationally to discuss the lessons of the campaign and help launch organizing efforts in more facilities.”
Twitter: Amazon Workers in 18 Other States Contacting ALU
Whether the Amazon Labor Union’s win last Friday was a sign of more unionization to come, or just a flash in the pan may be answered later in April when a second Amazon warehouse on Staten Island votes.