An Amazon employee group created by warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, announced that it aims to vote on unionization in the near future. The group said in a statement: “Workers are demanding Amazon to stop their union busting practices and allow workers to use their rights to organize towards collective bargaining without interference.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that an Amazon employee group created by warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, has announced that the group aims to organize a unionization vote in the near future. The group, called the Amazon Labor Union, plans to file with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on October 25 for an election.
Alma Delia Garcia of New York Communities for Change speaks during a protest organized by New York Communities for Change and Make the Road New York in front of the Jeff Bezos’ Manhattan residence in New York on December 02, 2020. (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
Jeff Bezos arrive at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on Sunday, March 4, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
More than 2,000 workers across four Amazon facilities in Staten Island have signed on to help in the organization effort, according to a statement from the Amazon Labor Union. Former Amazon employee Chris Smalls, who was fired from the company last year, is reportedly leading the group.
In a statement, the Amazon Labor Union said: “Workers are demanding Amazon to stop their union busting practices and allow workers to use their rights to organize towards collective bargaining without interference.”
Breitbart News reported on the firing of Chris Smalls in May of 2020. Smalls spoke with Breitbart News Tonight host Rebecca Mansour about the conditions that led to his termination. Breitbart News reporter Robert Kraychick wrote at the time:
“At the beginning of March, we were unprotected,” said Smalls. “We didn’t have any facial masks, we didn’t have any cleaning supplies. We didn’t have the right type of gloves that protect our skin. My associates, my employees that I supervised were falling ill in a domino effect, one by one [with] flu-like symptoms. Some of them were even vomiting at their stations. It was very alarming to me. I started to raise my concerns to my local HR department.”
Smalls added, “We didn’t have any confirmed cases at the time, but I wanted to be proactive instead of reactive [in] dealing with something that we’d never dealt before, this virus. I was concerned. They pretty much swept it under the rug because we didn’t have any safety guidelines implemented at the time. We didn’t have any cases; we were nonchalant about it.”
“So I fought behind the scenes,” Smalls continued. “I sent emails out to the CDC, to the health department, to the government of New York try to get the building closed down, quarantined for two weeks, because what I’d seen hand-in-hand and face-to-face was my employees and my colleagues around me begin to fall sick.”
On March 30, 2020, Smalls organized a walkout at the Amazon facility that resulted in his termination shortly afterward. Read more at Breitbart News here.
Read more about the latest attempt to organize an Amazon employee union at the Wall Street Journal here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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