Chris Smalls epitomized a modern David and Goliath story when he successfully, as founder and leader of the The Congress of Essential Workers, successfully organized the first union in an Amazon warehouse: the Amazon Labor Union (ALU). His efforts have been applauded by former President Joe Biden (D), Senator Bernie Sanders (I- VT), and leaders nationwide and globally. He was listed as one of Time’s 100 most influential people in 2022.
Smalls began working at Amazon in 2015 and led a walkout over COVID policies in 2020. He then spent months talking with his colleagues at the bus stop and building support for unionizing at the Staten Island warehouse. The ALU was formed on April 20, 2021.
The employees succeeded in April 2022, with 2,654 workers voting in favor of a union while 2,131 workers voted against a union.
“This was the first union in American history of Amazon workers – a monumental win. It inspired a resurgence of the labor movement not just here in America but worldwide,” he said in an interview with Context News on Feb. 10.
Amazon fired him in March 2020, alleging that he violated social distancing protocols. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) found his firing to be illegal and later filed an injunction for him to be rehired. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Senator Sanders called his firing “disgraceful.”
Smalls spoke before a Senate committee and later met with President Joe Biden, who had one of the strongest records on labor of any president in the modern era.
“I like you, you’re my kind of trouble,” said President Biden in May 2022, congratulating Smalls for the success in organizing the ALU while meeting with him at the White House. “I got in a little trouble, you may recall. I was saying I was looking forward to them getting organized. But you got it done in one place.”
The Staten Island warehouse remains the only unionized Amazon warehouse.
Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the country and similar unionization efforts in Bessemer, Alabama and Raleigh, North Carolina have been unsuccessful thus far.
Labor advocates and the Biden National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleged anti-unionization efforts, some illegal, during past union votes.
“I want you to know that what you did is extraordinary,” said Sen. Sanders (I- VT) during a closed-door strategic meeting with the core ALU organizing team in April 2022.
He was there to discuss the union’s plans for expansion a day before its second vote at a Staten Island warehouse called LDJ5. This vote was ultimately unsuccessful.
“All over this country people are working crazy hours, with terrible working conditions, inadequate wages, poor benefits,” said Sanders, “and what you have done is to take on one of the most powerful corporations in America owned by the second wealthiest guy in this country.”
Amazon Labor Union Continues Efforts
The Amazon Labor Union union also advocated for the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which became New York state law in 2023.
Smalls warned in a recent interview that rising conservatism and the adoption of artificial intelligence both pose grave threats to the labor movement.
“The National Labor Relations Board is going to be eradicated; I saw them give a cease-and-desist to the Department of Labor to stop all investigative reports about workplace violations. So the sense of urgency is really here, and it’s not just for us – it’s for everybody,” Smalls said. “We’re in trouble, and we need defense at the federal level but also the local level.”
The labor activist also warned about artificial intelligence (AI) and ensuring employees work to keep their jobs despite developing technologies.
“Within the next five years, AI is going to wipe out 50% of American jobs, overnight. Tech activists and workers, they have to have a real ‘moral compass’ conversation about what side they want to be on,” he continued. Once we negotiate a contract, everything is on the table, and the number one thing would be job security, making sure that there is no way for the company to replace us with automation.”
