SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Christian Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union, leads protestors in a march on September 5, 2022 in New York City. (Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Amazon Workers to Protest 'Corporate Law-Breaker' CEO Jassy, Demanding End to Union-Busting
"If Jassy comes to New York he should come to bargain a contract with Amazon workers, not bluster or practice union-busting."
Nov 28, 2022
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is set to be met on Wednesday by workers from his company's first unionized warehouse when he arrives at a New York Times event, as the Amazon Labor Union calls on him to support negotiations for a fair contract for the people who help make sure billions of products are delivered by the company each year.
Members of the union, which is headed by former warehouse worker Christian Smalls, plan to rally at Lincoln Center where Jassy is speaking at the Times' DealBook Summit. The summit features talks by "high-level executives and emerging leaders" from sectors including financial services, media, private investment, venture capital, and banking.
"If Jassy comes to New York he should come to bargain a contract with Amazon workers, not bluster or practice union-busting," Smalls said in a statement. "It's time that Amazon and the company's CEO respect the rights of workers and join ALU in improving working conditions rather than acting as an uncaring, B.S.-spouting, corporate law-breaker."
Jassy's appearance comes as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is expected to certify the ALU's historic union election, which took place in April.
In September, the NLBR "overruled in their entirety" Amazon's objections to the union vote, and earlier this month, District Judge Diane Gujarati of the Eastern District of New York filed a nationwide cease-and-desist order, requiring the company to stop firing workers for engaging in union activity and interfering with employees' rights.
The cease-and-desist order was handed down in the case of Gerald Bryson, an employee who was fired in April 2020 for protesting with his co-workers over unsafe working conditions at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a press statement, the ALU noted on Monday that the NLRB specifically cited Jassy for violating labor rights. The CEO said in TV interviews that if Amazon workplaces unionize, the company could become "more bureaucratic" and "much slower."
The board scheduled a hearing on Jassy's comments for February.
Amazon has so far stopped workers at two other warehouses in New York from unionizing, as well as one in Bessemer, Alabama. The company faces numerous allegations of intimidating workers, calling the police on union organizers on multiple occasions in at least two states, and otherwise retaliating against workers for participating in union activity.
The day after the ALU is set to protest at the DealBook Summit, Amazon managers at JFK8--the warehouse where Smalls led his former co-workers to vote in favor of unionizing in April--will distribute and publicly read out Gujarati's 30-page ruling, detailing the rights of workers at the facility.
The judge's decision stipulated that the readout take place, with an NLRB official monitoring. Amazon could be held in contempt of court if managers do not read and distribute the ruling.
"The judge's order in this case recognizes Amazon's unlawful conduct and provides the full force of a federal court injunction to prohibit Amazon from further discharging employees for engaging in protected concerted activity," said Teresa Poor, regional director for the Brooklyn office of the NLRB.
"This relief is critical to ensure that Amazon employees can fully and freely exercise their rights to join together and improve their working conditions, including by forming, assisting, or joining a union," added Poor.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is set to be met on Wednesday by workers from his company's first unionized warehouse when he arrives at a New York Times event, as the Amazon Labor Union calls on him to support negotiations for a fair contract for the people who help make sure billions of products are delivered by the company each year.
Members of the union, which is headed by former warehouse worker Christian Smalls, plan to rally at Lincoln Center where Jassy is speaking at the Times' DealBook Summit. The summit features talks by "high-level executives and emerging leaders" from sectors including financial services, media, private investment, venture capital, and banking.
"If Jassy comes to New York he should come to bargain a contract with Amazon workers, not bluster or practice union-busting," Smalls said in a statement. "It's time that Amazon and the company's CEO respect the rights of workers and join ALU in improving working conditions rather than acting as an uncaring, B.S.-spouting, corporate law-breaker."
Jassy's appearance comes as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is expected to certify the ALU's historic union election, which took place in April.
In September, the NLBR "overruled in their entirety" Amazon's objections to the union vote, and earlier this month, District Judge Diane Gujarati of the Eastern District of New York filed a nationwide cease-and-desist order, requiring the company to stop firing workers for engaging in union activity and interfering with employees' rights.
The cease-and-desist order was handed down in the case of Gerald Bryson, an employee who was fired in April 2020 for protesting with his co-workers over unsafe working conditions at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a press statement, the ALU noted on Monday that the NLRB specifically cited Jassy for violating labor rights. The CEO said in TV interviews that if Amazon workplaces unionize, the company could become "more bureaucratic" and "much slower."
The board scheduled a hearing on Jassy's comments for February.
Amazon has so far stopped workers at two other warehouses in New York from unionizing, as well as one in Bessemer, Alabama. The company faces numerous allegations of intimidating workers, calling the police on union organizers on multiple occasions in at least two states, and otherwise retaliating against workers for participating in union activity.
The day after the ALU is set to protest at the DealBook Summit, Amazon managers at JFK8--the warehouse where Smalls led his former co-workers to vote in favor of unionizing in April--will distribute and publicly read out Gujarati's 30-page ruling, detailing the rights of workers at the facility.
The judge's decision stipulated that the readout take place, with an NLRB official monitoring. Amazon could be held in contempt of court if managers do not read and distribute the ruling.
"The judge's order in this case recognizes Amazon's unlawful conduct and provides the full force of a federal court injunction to prohibit Amazon from further discharging employees for engaging in protected concerted activity," said Teresa Poor, regional director for the Brooklyn office of the NLRB.
"This relief is critical to ensure that Amazon employees can fully and freely exercise their rights to join together and improve their working conditions, including by forming, assisting, or joining a union," added Poor.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is set to be met on Wednesday by workers from his company's first unionized warehouse when he arrives at a New York Times event, as the Amazon Labor Union calls on him to support negotiations for a fair contract for the people who help make sure billions of products are delivered by the company each year.
Members of the union, which is headed by former warehouse worker Christian Smalls, plan to rally at Lincoln Center where Jassy is speaking at the Times' DealBook Summit. The summit features talks by "high-level executives and emerging leaders" from sectors including financial services, media, private investment, venture capital, and banking.
"If Jassy comes to New York he should come to bargain a contract with Amazon workers, not bluster or practice union-busting," Smalls said in a statement. "It's time that Amazon and the company's CEO respect the rights of workers and join ALU in improving working conditions rather than acting as an uncaring, B.S.-spouting, corporate law-breaker."
Jassy's appearance comes as the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is expected to certify the ALU's historic union election, which took place in April.
In September, the NLBR "overruled in their entirety" Amazon's objections to the union vote, and earlier this month, District Judge Diane Gujarati of the Eastern District of New York filed a nationwide cease-and-desist order, requiring the company to stop firing workers for engaging in union activity and interfering with employees' rights.
The cease-and-desist order was handed down in the case of Gerald Bryson, an employee who was fired in April 2020 for protesting with his co-workers over unsafe working conditions at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a press statement, the ALU noted on Monday that the NLRB specifically cited Jassy for violating labor rights. The CEO said in TV interviews that if Amazon workplaces unionize, the company could become "more bureaucratic" and "much slower."
The board scheduled a hearing on Jassy's comments for February.
Amazon has so far stopped workers at two other warehouses in New York from unionizing, as well as one in Bessemer, Alabama. The company faces numerous allegations of intimidating workers, calling the police on union organizers on multiple occasions in at least two states, and otherwise retaliating against workers for participating in union activity.
The day after the ALU is set to protest at the DealBook Summit, Amazon managers at JFK8--the warehouse where Smalls led his former co-workers to vote in favor of unionizing in April--will distribute and publicly read out Gujarati's 30-page ruling, detailing the rights of workers at the facility.
The judge's decision stipulated that the readout take place, with an NLRB official monitoring. Amazon could be held in contempt of court if managers do not read and distribute the ruling.
"The judge's order in this case recognizes Amazon's unlawful conduct and provides the full force of a federal court injunction to prohibit Amazon from further discharging employees for engaging in protected concerted activity," said Teresa Poor, regional director for the Brooklyn office of the NLRB.
"This relief is critical to ensure that Amazon employees can fully and freely exercise their rights to join together and improve their working conditions, including by forming, assisting, or joining a union," added Poor.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.