Newly Elected ALU Leadership Turns to Union Ranks to Prepare Amazon Contract Fight
The following letter from the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) – International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Local 1 was sent on September 4, 2024, to workers at JFK8, Amazon’s giant warehouse in Staten Island, New York.
Union leaders told World-Outlook that while the letter is addressed to ALU members at JFK8 its content is public information.
The letter refers to the July election for union officers. The ALU’s Democratic Reform Caucus won all four positions on the union’s executive board and the eleven positions on the union’s constitution committee. The IBT subsequently certified the results. ALU-IBT Local 1’s new officers — Connor Spence, president; Brima Sylla, vice-president; Kathleen “Kat” Cole, secretary-treasurer; and Sultana Hossain, recording secretary — were sworn in on August 22.
The ALU was the first and, as yet, the only union to win a representation election at an Amazon facility in the United States. That vote took place in March 2022, more than two years ago. Then, among 8,325 eligible voters, nearly 5,000 ballots were cast. The ALU won by a margin of 523 votes, with nearly 55% of workers voting for the union.
Last June, ALU members at JFK8 voted to affiliate with the Teamsters union.
Since the union’s victory, Amazon has refused to recognize the ALU or negotiate a contract.
A recent World-Outlook article noted, “Amazon filed 25 objections to the [March 2022] election with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The NLRB Region 28 director dismissed all 25 objections and certified the union in January 2023. Amazon then simply refused to recognize the NLRB decision or negotiate a contract with the ALU.
“The company’s strategy has been to tie the union up in a drawn-out legal battle, draining it of valuable resources and hoping to demoralize workers through repeated delays. This has included firing union organizers, among them Spence and Hossain.
“Amazon has also appealed NLRB Region 28’s ruling to the national labor board in Washington, D.C., where it has languished for more than 15 months…
“In this context, winning the first union contract at Amazon is an enormous challenge. Amazon’s tactics posed sharply the need to consolidate the ALU’s victory by reaching out to all workers at JFK8 to draw them into a functioning democratic union. A membership-wide discussion about how to overcome Amazon’s obstructionism through the use of union power was necessary.”
The ALU letter indicates the new union leadership is organizing the membership to begin the necessary fight.
Amazon’s appeal dismissed
On August 29, the national labor board in Washington, D.C., dismissed Amazon’s appeal.
“We find that the Employer’s request for review has failed to establish objectionable conduct, both with respect to each individual objection and cumulatively,” the NLRB ruling concluded. “Accordingly, we deny review.”
“The ruling certifies the election and allows ALU to act as a bargaining representative for the warehouse’s roughly 8,000 workers,” a Bloomberg Law article reported on August 29. “But the union… faces a long road to reach the bargaining table with Amazon, which already plans to challenge the NLRB decision.”
The Bloomberg article explained that Amazon cannot directly appeal to federal courts the NLRB August 29 ruling.
“Federal labor law doesn’t give parties a path to litigate election disputes past the NLRB,” Bloomberg Law noted. “Amazon’s only option for getting a court review of the order will be for it to refuse to bargain, prompting the union to file an unfair labor practice [ULP] charge.
“ULP cases can be taken up to federal appeals courts after it goes through the lengthy NLRB administrative process.
“The NLRB has already issued a complaint against Amazon for stonewalling contract negotiations with the union at the JFK8 facility, accusing it of purposefully refusing to bargain to contest the election results. NLRB lawyers have also accused Amazon of illegally firing and coercing union supporters.”
Following the ALU’s victory in 2022, World-Outlook addressed the challenge facing the union and discussed the role of the NLRB in the article Union Power Can Break Employers’ Obstruction.
“Neither the ALU nor workers organizing in any other industry or workplace, however, need be limited to making arguments to the NLRB or the courts,” the World-Outlook article explained. “To achieve workers’ goals, the union can simultaneously mobilize the ranks of its members and supporters to exert union power on the job and in the streets.” Some of the labor history cited in that article may be of interest to Amazon workers and their supporters today.
The ALU letter reproduced below indicates the new union leadership is not waiting for what Amazon may do next to keep stonewalling. It is taking steps now to draw all JFK8 workers into a discussion to determine a course of action that can overcome Amazon’s obstructionism and force the company to negotiate a contract.
— World-Outlook editors
*
Brothers and Sisters,
After two long years of stalling, Amazon has finally lost its court battle to overturn the results of our NLRB union election in March of 2022.
At that time, we JFK8 workers decisively indicated to the company that we believe in fighting together rather than alone to change our working conditions and that we want Amazon to negotiate with us collectively. We formed the Amazon Labor Union because a union is our only chance of protecting one another and fighting back. There’s a lot that needs to change at Amazon — an end to pay caps, forced cross-training, and mass write-ups, to name a few — and Amazon knows that if we stand together as one union, we can force them to fix those things and more.
That’s why Amazon chooses to break the law instead. They’ve spent millions of dollars to bust our union, violate our rights, and appeal our victory endlessly in court. That’s all over now. Our victory stands and our demand is clear:
We’re done waiting, it’s time for Amazon to come to the table and negotiate a fair contract.
As many of you know, our union has gone through some transitions in the past few months. First, we affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the largest logistics union in the country, representing over 1.3 million working class Americans. Amazon Labor Union is now ALU-IBT Local 1. In 2023, the Teamsters negotiated a historic contract with UPS, a greedy corporation not at all unlike Amazon. As a result of their contract, UPS drivers are the highest paid in the nation, making as much as $49 an hour! Our new parent union is committed to providing JFK8 workers the resources and support to win that kind of victory at Amazon.
The other major transition was a change of leadership in our union. In July, we conducted an election so JFK8 workers could democratically choose the four officers of our union to represent them — President, Vice President, Secretary-Treasurer, and Recording Secretary. Our union’s new leadership campaigned on a series of important reforms for ALU. We want our union to be more democratic, transparent, and participatory, because we know that we’ll never be strong unless we work together, and the only way to build unity is to make sure the voice of every JFK8 worker is heard.
We also want our union to be more militant and active, with a bold plan to pressure Amazon to come to the table. We’re no longer a wait-and-see union, because we don’t believe sitting in court for years is going to get us a contract, let alone a good one.
Now, it’s time for all JFK8 workers to take responsibility and join the fight. Our next steps are clear:
- We need to build a strong network of union stewards in the warehouse (basically, representatives or ambassadors of our union who can lead the charge on the work floor). This is so JFK8 workers can get information, ask for help, and most importantly, have a leader they can follow into action when the time comes. If this sounds like you, please fill out this form:
2. We need to make preparations to start the negotiating process with Amazon. That means creating a negotiating committee. Everything is on the table in contract negotiations: pay, benefits, and working conditions. And when it comes to who gets to be part of this process, we don’t believe in excluding anyone. Our committee should be large, participatory, and completely transparent. The only qualification you need is to be a JFK8 worker who believes in changing things for the better. If that sounds like you, fill out this form:
Join the ALU Negotiating Committee
This next phase is critical, and we won’t make progress unless we all stand together and take ownership of this contract fight. JFK8 workers have waited too long for change, the time to act is now. It will be an honor to fight alongside you all.
In Solidarity,
Connor Spence
President
ALU-IBT Local 1
Amazon Labor Union on Instagram
If you appreciate this article, subscribe to World-Outlook (for free) by clicking on the link below.
Type your email in the box below and click on “SUBSCRIBE.” You will receive a notification in your in-box on which you will have to click to confirm your subscription.
Categories: Labor Movement / Trade Unions
1 reply »