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Author for The Nation and Organizer for the United Autoworkers Jonathan Rosenblum, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss efforts to organize within Amazon warehouses. Rosenblum also discussed why he believes the Amazon negotiations are important to the future of the labor movement and shared his thoughts on how the Amazon Union workers can improve their chances of organizing and negotiating first contracts.
Despite a successful vote by workers to unionize Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse, first contract negotiations have gone nowhere. Rosenblum believes they initially missed a chance to force Amazon’s hand, by striking during the busy holiday season last year. However, the opportunity to restart contract negotiations will come around again as we approach the 2023 holiday season. Rosenblum warns that it won’t be easy and if they want to be successful, then they’ll need to figure out a way to involve more than a single Amazon warehouse.
There are 1,300 Amazon warehouses and logistical facilities in the United States. This is why Amazon isn’t worried about contract negotiations with a single warehouse, Rosenblum said. There isn’t a lot of power or leverage when everyone is operating independently. To create the impact necessary for Amazon to take notice and negotiate in good faith, JFK8 would need to have multiple warehouses involved with a coordinated, unified labor action. This is similar to the actions from steelworkers over 100 years ago while trying to gain union recognition.
The labor movement as a whole has been generally unsuccessful in organizing attempts in the newer retail and production industries, but Rosenblum believes there still could be more that major union organizations could do. As workers continue to take control back and make demands for improvements from their employer, organized labor needs to show support and unity with as many of these workers as possible. This will create the power to cause change, Rosenblum said. If the labor movement isn’t able to find an answer to these problems, it could result in companies using similar tactics to root out unions in the future.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more.
America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, American Alliance for Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North America, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, Survey and Ballot Systems, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
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