Joint Call to Action by Starbucks Workers United and Amazon Labor Union

The following is a joint call to action by the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and Starbucks Workers United regarding protests taking place on May 1, 2022, the international workers’ day.

Workers at these two companies have scored some of the most important union organizing victories in the United States in decades.

Starbucks workers have unionized 17 stores across the country; workers at the ubiquitous coffee retailer in another 170 locations in 30 states are slated to cast ballots in union elections in coming months.

On April 1, the ALU won a landmark representation vote at JFK8, Amazon’s giant fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York, employing 8,000 workers; round two for the ALU is taking place April 25-29 at the adjacent LDJ5, Amazon’s sorting facility employing 1,600 people, with results to be announced in early May.

In a separate election at the Bessemer, Alabama, Amazon warehouse, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, trailed slightly in the initial tally of the votes announced March 31; but more than 400 ballots — enough to potentially affect the outcome — have yet to be counted because they were challenged by either the company or the union, and are set to be resolved at a labor board hearing in the coming weeks.

One Working Class: United Against Union Busting

In the last few months, there has been an explosion of workers across the country coming together to organize for the first time. Many other workers who already belong to unions, have been fighting for better contracts.

Through the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen working class people on the front lines struggling to get by while corporations make off with unprecedented profits.

As corporations grow richer and the cost of every day living rises, conditions for workers deteriorate. Many of us say enough is enough — we want better conditions, better pay and a a say in our workplace.

Workers built these companies and their fortunes, and we are simply demanding to have a real voice in our workplace. However, this modest demand was met with ruthless union-busting campaigns from companies like Starbucks and Amazon. We have faced firings, threats, intimidation, lies and slander. We have been ratliated against for doing something for which we have a basic right to do — organize.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said recently that corporations across the country are “under assault” by unions, a battle cry that is reflected in the war being waged against workers.

From Buffalo to Memphis, to Staten Island and Bessemer, Seattle, Mesa, and everywhere else, we remain persistent and determined to continue to fight for a better workplace and a better world.

With many major victories, we have shown we can win. But it is only possible when we unite together in our common interests.

We are calling on our communities, friends, allies, neighbors — the whole working class — to join together in solidarity this May Day 2022 and mobilize against the union busting of Starbucks, Amazon, and every other company engaged in repressing its workers.

Whether you are attending a May Day event or hosting your own, we must be loud and clear that we will defend our right to organize without any impediments, legal or otherwise.

In Solidarity,

A JOINT CALL TO ACTION FROM SB WORKERS UNITED & AMAZON LABOR UNION