‘War of attrition’: why union victories for US workers at Amazon have stalled
A year ago, Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York won a “historic” victory – overcoming a multimillion-dollar campaign by the multibillion-dollar corporation to win the right to organize Amazon’s first-ever union.
A year on from that victory – which labor leaders had hoped would trigger a wave of union victories – is looking less momentous and another union election win at Amazon has remained elusive.
The company has continued to aggressively oppose unionization and organizing efforts at its warehouses. Critics charge US laws and issues at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency charged with enforcing US labor law, have stymied progress for the new labor movement.
And in the meantime, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) has suffered from internal strife and disagreements over future strategies and tactics. The Staten Island win made a star of the ALU president, Chris Smalls, who Amazon’s management had personally denigrated. Since then several union leaders have resigned in protest over Smalls’ focus on traveling and public appearances and raised concerns that rushing union elections at other sites had come at the cost of focusing on the first union contract fight at JFK8.
Even the victory at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island still faces issues. Amazon appealed and delayed accepting the election results at JFK8, and has yet to begin bargaining with the Amazon Labor Union.
In the last year, Amazon has opposed and fought subsequent union elections and union organizing campaigns at other sites and continues to fight charges of unfair labor practices filed by workers involved in these campaigns. Charges have ranged from worker firings to workplace access for workers organizing.
The company spent over $14.2m
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