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NEW YORK (AP) — When a group of resentful former and current warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, went head-to-head with Amazon in a union election, many compared it to a David and Goliath battle.
David won. And Friday’s giddy surprise caused the sudden emergence of organizers and labor advocates who swept the victory for the nascent Amazon Labor Union as many more entrenched groups of workers, including those in Bessemer, Alabama, failed before them.
Preliminary results in this election show the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Stores Association fell by 118 votes, with the majority of Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer rejecting the proposal to form a union. The final result is still in the air with 416 extraordinarily challenging ballots hanging in the balance. A hearing for the review of the ballot papers is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee head of the ALU, criticized RWDSU’s campaign, saying it did not have enough local support. Instead, he chose an independent path, believing it would be more effective for workers to organize themselves, and undermined Amazon’s narrative that “third-party” groups were driving union efforts.
“They weren’t perceived as foreigners, so that’s important,” said Ruth Milkman, a labor and labor movements sociologist at the City University of New York.
Faced with a large-pocketed retailer with an uninterrupted history of keeping unions out of their US operations, the odds against either union initiative were stacked, while the ALU was decidedly underfunded and understaffed compared to RWDSU. Smalls said in early March that ALU had raised and spent about $100,000 and was working on a weekly budget. The group does not have its own office space and relied on community groups and two unions for help. Legal aid came from a lawyer who offered gratuitous aid.
Meanwhile, Amazon used all its might to fend off organizing efforts by routinely holding mandatory meetings with workers to discuss why unions were a bad idea. In a filing released last week, the company disclosed that it spent nearly $4.2 million last year on worker advisors, which organizers say Amazon hires to persuade workers not to unionise.
Financially behind, Smalls and others have relied on their ability to reach workers more personally by making TikTok videos, distributing free marijuana, and arranging barbecues and cooks. A few weeks before the election, Smalls’ aunt cooked soul food, including macaroni and cheese, collard greens, ham, and baked chicken, for a union pot. Another pro-union worker had his neighbor make Jollof rice, a West African dish that organizers believe will help them make way with migrant workers at the warehouse.
Kate Andrias, professor of law and labor law at Columbia University, pointed out that a successful union – whether local or national – must always be built by the workers themselves.
“This was a clearer example of that,” Andrias said. “The workers did it on their own.”
Amazon’s own missteps may also have contributed to the Staten Island election result. Bert Flickinger III, general manager at consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said of the derogatory comments from a company executive who leaked from an internal meeting who called Smalls “not smart or outspoken” and “wanted to make him the face of the entire union/organization movement”. ” backfired.
“It was tiny and it helped mobilize workers,” said Flickinger, who has consulted with major labor unions.
In another instance, Smalls and two organizers were arrested in February after authorities received a complaint that he had breached the Staten Island warehouse. Days before the union election, ALU used the arrests to her advantage and teamed up with an art collective to project “YOUR WORKERS ARRESTED” in white letters on the warehouse. “They fired SOMEONE YOU KNOW,” another projection said.
“Many workers on the fence, even against the union, were upset by this situation,” Smalls said.
Experts note that it is difficult to know how much the grassroots nature of the ALU compared to the RWDSU contributed to its victory. Unlike New York, Alabama is a right-to-work state that prohibits a company and union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.
There was also a grassroots element in the union movement, which began when a group of Amazon workers in Bessemer approached RWDSU about organizing.
At a virtual press conference held by RWDSU on Thursday following the preliminary results in Alabama, president Stuart Appelbaum said he believes the New York elections were held in a union-friendly state and benefited because Amazon workers in Staten Island voted in person, not in person. By mail as done in Alabama.
Despite some friction before the elections, the two groups of workers have enjoyed friendlier public relations over the past few days. Similarly, Smalls offered RWDSU words of encouragement after their initial election loss.
For now, he’s focusing on the ALU win. Organizers say Amazon employees from more than 20 states have reached out to organize their warehouses. However, a separate union election is scheduled for this month at their warehouse and a neighboring facility.
Organizers are also preparing for a tough negotiation process for an employment contract. The group asked Amazon officials to come to the table in early May. But experts say the retail giant, which signals plans to challenge the election results, will likely drag its feet.
“The number one thing will be fighting for the contract,” Smalls said. “We must start this process immediately because we know that the longer the contract lasts, the more hope and interest the workers will lose.”
Meanwhile, some workers are waiting to see what happens.
Tinea Greenway, a Brooklyn warehouse worker, said she felt the pressure of the messages she heard constantly from both Amazon and ALU organizers before the election and wanted to make the decision herself. In due course, she voted against the union because of a bad past experience with another union, which she said was not fighting for her.
“They won,” he said of the ALU. “So let’s see if they’ll honor the deal they said they’d do.”
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