[Editorial Note: The Partisan is republishing for our readers the second part of the class-conscious shop paper New Day at Amazon‘s work on the history of unionization attempts at Amazon. In this part, the Amazon worker comrades outline the narrative around the JFK8 ALU campaign specifically, and draw lessons from the failure of ALU for their own unionization effort. You can read the first part here.]
The history of the union struggle Amazon is not a particularly long history, as Amazon is a very modern company. The very first attempts of organizing unions were in Silicon Valley in the very early 2000s; throughout the 2010s there were many union votes, but none had proved to be successful. The very first “successful attempt” at organizing an Amazon building happened at JFK8 in New York City, which is a large fulfillment center in Staten Island. Almost 5000 workers took part in the vote. They wanted safety during COVID and they knew they deserved higher pay. With desires of an independent union, workers at JFK8 decided to take up the same strategy that we discussed in part one of this series: they forged an organization independent of the old and wretched state unions, they sought to have an organization that could stand on its own two feet. An organization that would fight tirelessly for Amazon workers. In this article, we will delve into if this is actually what happened.
In the beginning of our struggle, we supported and reached out to try to join up with the Amazon Labor Union (ALU). We supported their struggle and thought their principles were correct. Just like CAUSE (read edition 4 for more context), their entire strategy rested on the fact that they only had a union if the government recognized their union. On April 1st, 2022, they became the first “unionized” Amazon shop! In the final analysis, a win is a win! All that matters is how the win was used to advance our interests. Workers had the consciousness to form a union and to act as or at least try and act like an independent union. But once again, this brings us back to the question: if you’re legally recognized by the government as a union, does this really mean you have a union?
On one hand, under the NLRB, you can have a contract that must be upheld by both sides. On the other, it must be emphasized it has to be upheld by both sides. Not just the employer, but the union as well. This means that the contract can be null and void if you do not uphold your side of the bargain. Furthermore, the employer has a multitude of legal and illegal tricks up their sleeve to sabotage any attempt at a legally recognized trade union. That means that even if you go by the book, but don’t organize in a sustainable way, nothing will actually matter in the end! They can terminate your contract for whatever reason!
After the vote occurred at JFK8, a leader named Chris Smalls emerged, and his clique held complete power over the union. To be factual, they weren’t even elected! It took workers at JFK8 to sue Chris Smalls and the ALU in order to get an actual election. Chris Smalls would eventually give, allowing new leadership to be elected. Upon further review, it is disastrous that the workers had to sue their own union! They felt they had to bank on the legal system having their back. If it is not clear, this organization is a complete mess. Worst yet, it is exactly three years later from the day that they won their union vote that they still don’t have a contract. Is this their fault? Not completely, but in part of course it is. Yes, Amazon has been holding out perpetually. Yes, the government is also against workers having their own bargaining unit. While that is true, it is still true that the union at JFK8 is not an independent one. It is not even organized as such.
Before Chris Smalls stepped down from leadership, he made a tremendous mistake: he left the workers at JFK8 under the boot of the gangster union known as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). Not only do they have a President in Sean O’Brien that has a track record of scandal and has ties to the mafia, but who also panders to whatever faction of the ruling class is in power. The IBT, who recently switched their support from the Democrats to the Republicans, released a statement against the proposed appointment from the Trump administration. They do not care who is in power; they only want the government to support them and keep their legal status as practical mafias in place. We’ve even highlighted in past issues how the IBT has sold out UPS workers and how the IBT staged a fake strike at Amazon. The IBT does not care about Amazon workers, they care about the dues that Amazon workers will pay them. The dues that will buy the IBT bureaucrats houses, cars, properties, and pay their bloated salary. While at the same time, giving almost nothing towards the union’s “strike fund”. This is the whole reason for the recent “strike” they held; they want the government to just hand them over all the hardworking Amazonians. They want our millions of dollars in dues to simply sell us out.
What can we take away from the experience of Amazon workers at JFK8? First, a union is organized on the basis of production, not on if you can simply convince a majority of workers to vote yes instead of no. A union is an organizational tool; it is a tool for us to eventually strike to win our demands.
Second, leadership must from the very start be elected by the workers themselves. The work they do must be based upon principles that uphold the power of the working class. Our main principles include class struggle, anti-opportunism, democracy, anti-imperialism, and working class unity. It is only through principles like these that elected leaders can make correct decisions that benefit the majority. It is only through electing leaders who uphold the value of class struggle, our class against the ruling class, against Jeff Bezos and the shareholders of Amazon, that we can eventually create a better world.
One day our organization will be able to confidently call itself a union, but that is not the case now. While we have begun to have elections in various shops, we have not yet held any large or sustained campaigns. Everything we do must be oriented towards a future strike; how we treat each other, how we organize ourselves, the decisions we make, these all must be oriented towards an eventual strike to win our demands. We will shut down production one day! We will fight for a contract and we will do it our way. We will not give in to an easy moral victory. We will have a real victory, a victory that allows us to pay our rent, that allows us to afford childcare, allows us to pay our debts, allows us to have a real say within our workplaces! It is with our principles and an unrelenting application of these principles that will grow us into a strong union, and give us the ability to win the fight in our own way!
