Labor Politics

Share this post
Amazon Workers On How They Won — & What Comes Next
laborpolitics.substack.com

Amazon Workers On How They Won — & What Comes Next

Eric Blanc
Apr 9
Comment
Share

It’s been a whirlwind week for working-class struggle. Personally, I’ve already got butterflies in my stomach about MC'ing an amazing panel with Amazon Labor Union leaders — this coming Monday (April 11), 8pm ET — on lessons of their victory for organizing your workplace. It’s going to be great, please RSVP here and boost widely on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

What’s next for the struggle at Amazon? After much speculation about future plans, ALU president Chris Smalls explained at yesterday’s press conference/mini rally that he met in DC with Sara Nelson and Teamsters’ president Sean O’Brien, who has pledged to put real resources into supporting ALU’s autonomous organizing:

Twitter avatar for @_ericblancEric Blanc @_ericblanc
.@Shut_downAmazon: “The big unions are going to support us, and that’s all we’re asking for … The cavalry has come” 🔥🔥🔥

April 8th 2022

100 Retweets435 Likes

The most powerful speech of the day came from ALU vice president Derrick Palmer, who laid out the stakes:

Twitter avatar for @_ericblancEric Blanc @_ericblanc
“We woke up the world and we shook up the union movement … This is history in the making” – @DerrickPalmer_ is 🔥🔥🔥

April 9th 2022

4 Retweets9 Likes

Palmer closed out with some choice words for Amazon about the upcoming election at LDJ5, the sorting center where the ALU later this month is hoping to win its second big union election:

Twitter avatar for @_ericblancEric Blanc @_ericblanc
.@DerrickPalmer_ : “We’re going to whup Amazon’s ass. Black power. Worker power.”

April 8th 2022

125 Retweets633 Likes

Focused as ever on winning her co-workers to join the movement, ALU chair Angelika Maldonado made a case for unifying across divisions to win “the contract of our dreams”:

Twitter avatar for @_ericblancEric Blanc @_ericblanc
“If we fight together, we can defeat the beast” @amazonlabor leader Angelika Maldonado is a working-class hero

April 9th 2022

1 Retweet2 Likes

And, like with any great labor struggle, there was lots of singing and collective joy:

Twitter avatar for @_ericblancEric Blanc @_ericblanc
Every union should have their own anti-billionaire anthem like @amazonlabor 😍

April 9th 2022

1 Retweet11 Likes

ALU has already made history, but we shouldn’t underestimate the power of corporate America. How far this upsurge will go largely depends on efforts to ramp up organizing over the coming weeks at LDJ5, at other Amazon warehouses, and in workplaces all across the country. For the first time in years, our side has real political momentum. We can’t afford to squander this opening.

[RSVP here for Monday’s call with ALU leaders]

CommentComment
ShareShare

Create your profile

0 subscriptions will be displayed on your profile (edit)

Skip for now

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.

TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2022 Eric Blanc
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Publish on Substack Get the app
Substack is the home for great writing