WRITTEN AND CONTRIBUTED BY KHAMERON RILEY
What You Need to Know:
Last week, Christian Smalls, a Black man once unjustly fired from Amazon’s New York warehouse, led Staten Island Amazon workers to successfully form the global mega giant’s first union. Amazon considered Smalls “not smart, or articulate” and initiated a full-blown union-busting war against his grassroots efforts. Despite Amazon’s efforts, Smalls accomplished the impossible.
In the days since the vote, Amazon has been spending millions pursuing ways to contest the vote, searching for any and everything they can use just short of complete and total heresy. According to Business Insider, Amazon has claimed that New York union organizers handed out marijuana to workers in a bid to secure unionization votes. This is just one of many objections Amazon has made to the National Labor Relations Board.
On Saturday, Connor Spence, the Amazon Labor Union’s vice president of membership, said Amazon’s objections “have no merit” and intended to “suppress a democratic outcome.” He added: “We urge Amazon to cease these childish legal games, respect the voices of their workers, and engage in behavior that is more becoming of ‘Earth’s Best Employer.'”
In a filing responding to Amazon’s objections, the union laid out 21 of its own objections, which include claims of unlawful surveillance of workers, intimidation, and retaliation.
Why You Need to Know:
Amazon needs to suck it up, pay up and give their workers the right to just working conditions and… pensions! These accusations are flimsy, racist attempts to undermine Christian Smalls, the man who became a movement.