Nuked The Amazon labor union (ALU) became the first-ever union to successfully organize Amazon employees. In January 2022, the workers of Amazon’s jfk8 warehouse voted to unionize, 2,654 to 2,131.
Labor activists are already hoping to apply the same tactics to the hundreds of thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across the rest of the country. The newly formed Amazon labor union is pointing to a different path forward.
The ALU put the focus on two warehouses, jfk8 and ldj5, and used social media videos to raise awareness. They even held phonebanks, calling every one of the workers eligible to vote in the election.
Gerald Bryson, the ALU’s sergeant-at-arms, said that the company had a dismissive attitude towards him and his fellow organizers. He made repeated references to how Amazon representatives called them inarticulate’thugs’.
Alu and the Bessemer organizing efforts were done in coordination with the retail, wholesale and department store Union (rwdsu). The Amazon labor union is an independent organization, not affiliated with any established union.
‘an indie union with little infrastructure and resources could do this,’ says an associate professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University. I would n’t say they won because they were an independent Union,’ she said.
Bryson is convinced that the ALU will be able to keep making progress. Part of his confidence comes from the trust he puts in Chris Smalls.
‘the labor laws that we’re using here might not apply so much somewhere else,’ said Bryson.’it’s kind of tricky,’ he said.
Unlike Alabama, New York has a strong union tradition that many of the workers were likely familiar with.’when you break that [ Amazon ] armor, you’re going to break it in places where there’s union density,’ said James Williams, Jr..
Alu organizers tried to dispel misconceptions about unions, Bryson said. He asked one co-worker who was dead-set against unionizing what they knew about unions.’that was n’t the answer I was expecting,’ he said.
Alu organizers say they have Amazon workers in more than a dozen states who want to organize as well. There are vast swaths of the country where unions are not well-established, but the ALU may have to tweak its tactics to reach those workers.
The future of union organizing in general, not just at Amazon, is likely to see more smaller, nimble organizations try to emulate the ALU playbook. givan says people who are already politically aligned and want to organize getting jobs at places like Amazon or Starbucks specifically to help start union campaigns.
Younger co-workers have a different set of tools at their disposal than their predecessors, she said. She also noted that younger co-workers are pro-union shows they’re not intimidated.
The ALU has to begin negotiations with Amazon, a company well-known for its aversion to unions and its willingness to use union-busting tactics. The ALU will have to bring the same determination to the next – and arguably harder – part of the process: getting Amazon to sign a contract.
