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.