Amazon union president knocks Biden: ‘No cavalry coming’ for American workers

The leader of Amazon’s only successful union effort said Monday that American workers cannot rely on Democrats to secure better wages and conditions.

“We’ve seen worker uprisings and resurgences over the last few years, and this is a great thing,” Christian Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), said on the Thule Show taping at SXSW. ,” he said on a taping of Austin’s Technology and Enterprise’s “The Thule Show.” Cultural festival.

“But that doesn’t make sense when you consider a federal law that hasn’t been touched since the 1930s, since the Great Depression,” Smalls said.

The union leader made the remarks a week after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took back the title of world’s richest person from Elon Musk.

In April 2021, Smalls’ national profile skyrocketed. One of the union efforts he helped lead was organizing the Amazon warehouse on Staten Island. There, he accused his bosses of trying to cover up his coronavirus infection.

Smalls said at the time: “New York City was the epicenter of the world, and people were dying every 15 minutes. My mother works at Mount Sinai. [Hospital]she called me every night, because I’m an essential worker. [at Amazon] –And she was in the hospital and came out in a tractor-trailer full of dead bodies. ”

“And we’re going to work for the richest man in the world without masks or personal protective equipment,” he said.

Efforts to expand ALU are making slow progress. So far, the facility Smalls helped organize is the only one to do this.

Last year, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) accused Amazon Alleges Illegal Union-busting at Bessemer, Alabama Warehouse – Charges Follow Board of Directors’ 2021 Certification. was illegally interfering with A unionization vote at that facility forced the company to hold a new election.

Amazon sued the NLRB in February, claiming it was unconstitutional and deprived the company of its First Amendment rights, according to the Associated Press.

According to the Associated Press, Amazon has joined with Trader Joe’s and SpaceX in legal pressure on authorities.

Seth Goldstein, an attorney representing both the ALU and the labor group Trader Joe’s United, told The Associated Press that the companies’ actions were “very appalling.”

“They can’t defeat successful union organizing, so they now want to destroy the entire process,” he said.

The Hill has reached out to Amazon for comment.

Some Staten Island employees blame Smalls’ leadership for the lack of growth in the union movement. In late 2022, several members of ALU’s executive committee resigned in protest of what they described as Smalls’ disorganized and authoritarian leadership style.

ALU entourage, dissident member In a lawsuit filed in July, he wrote:, “refusing to hold membership meetings, unilaterally “amending” the constitution to keep itself in power indefinitely, and threatening opponents who made up the core group that won the Amazon elections in the first place. And, importantly, they are rejecting all efforts to hold fair and democratic elections. ”

ALU called The counterclaim calls this claim “frivolous.” Although Smalls did not directly address the allegations Monday, he criticized media coverage of unionization efforts within Amazon.

“We live in a time where people look at things on a superficial level and think, ‘Oh, yeah, he’s a hotshot.’ So, again, I have to keep letting the work speak for itself. No need.”

He added, “It only takes one article to cancel a black man in this country. And they put me out a bunch. And it’s still not working.”

Smalls also said that despite President Biden’s image as a champion of labor unions, he feels the president has failed Amazon workers.

He noted that Biden signed a bill to stop a railroad worker strike at the end of 2022, on the eve of a train disaster that dumped 1 million pounds of vinyl chloride on the outskirts of East Palestine, Ohio.

“I met Joe Biden,” Smalls said of the president’s 2022 meeting with Biden. mentioned him as “my troubles”.

Smalls was less enthusiastic. “I met [Biden], I met a lot of politicians who seemed to care about the working class. And ladies and gentlemen, the cavalry is not coming. I met with Joe Biden for an hour, but I don’t remember the content of the conversation. It was too bad. When I left the White House, I felt empty. ”

Six months after that meeting, Amazon secured an $8 billion loan from the federal government. “So, once again, it taught me that if we don’t organize, nothing will be given to us. No one will be held accountable,” Smalls said.

“So it’s imperative. It’s our duty, because we’re at the point of no return. We have to sort ourselves out. Because all the money in the world But nothing can stop the power of our people coming together.”