Organizing Amazon: How To Conquer A Union-Busting Giant | Chris Smalls | TMR

Then, they are joined in the studio (!) by Christian Smalls, the President of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), to discuss the recent developments with the organizing efforts at Amazon. Christian Smalls then joins as he, Emma, and Sam walk through the various fights that the ALU has been involved in, and what was learned from the different experiences, before diving deeper into Amazon’s union-busting tactics, why their immense capital allows them to avoid any immediate repercussions, and the importance of community and building a network of solidarity in union organizing. Wrapping up, Smalls explores his personal relationship with Amazon and his coworkers, and how he and the Amazon Labor Union continue to fight despite their David and Goliath-esque battle. Watch the Majority Report live Monday–Friday at 12 p.m. EST on YouTube OR listen via daily podcast at http://www.Majority.FM https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm #SamSeder #EmmaVigeland #MajorityReport #politics #midterms SUPPORT the show by becoming a member: http://www.jointhemajorityreport.com/ Download TMR's FREE app: http://www.majorityapp.com TMR MERCH: http://www.shop.majorityreportradio.com CHECK OUT MORE from the MR crew: Matt Binder DOOMED https://www.youtube.com/MattBinder Brandon Sutton DISCOURSE https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Emma Vigeland ESVN https://www.youtube.com/ESVNShow Matt Lech LEFT RECKONING https://www.youtube.com/LeftReckoning OTHER LINKS: Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Facebook: http://facebook.com/MajorityReport Twitter: http://twitter.com/MajorityFM Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/majorityreport.fm/ Check out more from the MR crew: Matt Binder DOOMED https://www.youtube.com/MattBinder Brandon Sutton THE DISCOURSE https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Emma Vigeland ESVN https://www.youtube.com/ESVNShow Matt Lech LEFT RECKONING https://www.youtube.com/LeftReckoning It is a pleasure to welcome to the studio we're just saying our first in-studio guest in three years. couldn't be happier to have it be you. Chris Smalls. is the president of the Amazon labor union. Chris welcome to the program. absolutely. Thank you for having me. All right so let I don't know if you want to work backward? or maybe we can let's just start a little bit with the first vote that you guys took in Staten Island. There were two warehouses JFK 8 and ldj5. What were the differences one was successful? One was not. Or at least in terms of the actual vote. Give me your assessment of like what was different in those two situations. a lot of things JFK's been around since 2018. ldj5 is fairly new. I want to say they just opened in 2020. so that's the difference right there you know. the veterans that organized JFK were talking to people that have been with Amazon three plus years. some of them even six years going on seven. ldj5 is a brand-new building. The organizers that were in that building were new to the company and also knew the organizing. They never organized anything of this magnitude. So of course we didn't expect to win. We expected to really just you know punch Amazon in the face again. And really show that you know we ain't backing down. And you know win or lose with these campaigns you know just to have the opportunity to vote that's already a victory. So we don't know I know the media and the outside Community they calculate you know wins and losses. Right. But we're talking about workers. You know there's no loss for the worker. Like you only lose when you give up.