New Amazon union taught the labor movement an important lesson

Picture of awfblog awfblog April 6, 2022

America's Work Force Union Podcast AWF

In-these-times

Guest Name:

Shaun Richman

Guest Website:

Guest Social Media:

Supportive Documents:

Shaun Richman, contributor to In These Times magazine, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the recent successful unionization vote of Amazon workers at a Staten Island Fulfillment Center and what it means for the labor movement.

Richman, the former Deputy Director of Organizing for the American Federation of Teachers, spent a decade and a half as a union organizer and representative.

The successful campaign marked the first time Amazon workers at a U.S. facility voted to unionize. Richman explained why the historical vote should make union organizers across America do some serious soul searching.

The Amazon Labor Union (ALU), an independent union founded by the Staten Island workers, made several surprising moves that fascinated labor organizers, Richman said.

First, the company pursued an election with the National Labor Relations Board with only 30 percent worker support. Most union organizing directors wait for larger approval ratings because they always expect some support will be whittled down through management’s union busting efforts. However, ALU pushed for a vote early in its campaign in order to unfreeze voter lists and do more direct campaigning, Richman noted.

Second, the ALU ran an independent campaign in order to give Amazon workers greater power to make the election happen, he said. In the end, the union ran a great campaign and did something unprecedented, which will likely encourage more Amazon workers across the country to unionize, he added.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about the successful ALU organizing campaign.

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, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, 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, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

New Amazon union taught the labor movement an important lesson

SUBSCRIBE ON:

As more union members join Intel project Central Ohio gets more work

Unions celebrate a new high-speed rail project in New York City

Several unions have achieved organizing victories in Texas

RECENT EPISODES

As more union members join Intel project Central Ohio gets more work

Unions celebrate a new high-speed rail project in New York City

Several unions have achieved organizing victories in Texas

SUBSCRIBE

NEWSLETTER