The Anderson Files: Amazon workers’ win and fragile promise of union revival

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April 14, 2022

Volume XXIX, Number 32

As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism, and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper.

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welcomes your correspondence via email (letters@ boulderweekly.com) or the comments section of our website at www.boulderweekly.com. Preference will be given to short letters (under 300 words) that deal with recent stories or local issues, and letters may be edited for style, length and libel. Letters should include your name, address and telephone number for verification. We do not publish anonymous letters or those signed with pseudonyms. Letters become the property of Boulder Weekly and will be published on our website. This April Fools’ Day, David beat Goliath. It wasn’t a joke. Workers at Amazon’s huge warehouse on Staten Island voted to form a union by a wide margin. Amazon is this nation’s second largest employer, and PBS Frontline said it’s “one of the most in uential economic and cultural forces in the world.” e New York Times reported, “No union victory is bigger than the rst win in the United States at Amazon, which many union leaders regard as an existential threat to labor standards across the economy because it touches so many industries and frequently dominates them.”

Last November, a group of more than 200 public health experts sent a letter to Amazon calling on the company to improve its working conditions.

An investigation by the group found that Amazon workers had: “Nearly double the national average rate of warehouse workplace injury;” “Chronic stress from the workload and work quota system;” “Risk of contracting

Amazon workers’ win and chronic and infectious disease due to lack of restroom access and inadequate COVID-19 fragile promise of union revival protections.” ere are many discontented Amazon by Dave Anderson workers across the country. Turnover is 150% which means that a typical worker stays for less than a year. Nevertheless, many have decided to stick around, organize and ght back. At Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama facility, a union drive led by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) was crushed by a two-to-one margin in an election in April 2021. In November, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ordered a second election this March after it determined that Amazon’s intense intimidation tactics were illegal “ agrant unfair labor practices.” e union lost again but by a small margin. ere are enough contested ballots that the outcome might be reversed. ere’s an important di erence between Bessemer and Staten Island. More workers in New York state are union members (20%) than in Alabama (6%). Higher union “density” creates a positive “word of mouth” message among working people. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, union members in Colorado accounted for 6.5% of wage

see ANDERSON FILES Page 5

and salary workers. Since 1989, when state data became available, union membership rates in Colorado have been below the U.S. average every year except 2018.

Nevertheless, Geof Cahoon, president of Boulder Area Labor Council (BALC), has reason to be optimistic. BALC is the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizing) alliance of unions in Boulder, Broom eld, Clear Creek, Summit, Lake and Gilpin counties. He says, “I have been involved with the labor council for almost a dozen years now. I don’t recall as many simultaneous labor actions going on as is happening today” in BALC’s six counties.

Cahoon notes that when the King Soopers workers went on strike recently, many people refused to cross the picket line—so much so that other grocery stores were running out of food.

Unite Here! (the hotel and restaurant workers union) recently organized the 90 bakery and kitchen workers at Boulder’s Google complex. He says 75 of them signed up to join the union in three days. ey instantly got a $3 raise.

In 2020, more than 30,000 state government workers got collective bargaining rights. ey are represented by Colorado WINS (Workers for Innovative and New Solutions). Last November, these historically underpaid workers signed a contract with across-theboard raises, a minimum wage hike and more paid time o .

United Campus Workers Colorado is stirring up what civil rights leader John Lewis called “good trouble.” ey are organizing the entire University of Colorado system workforce including part-time and full-time university sta , faculty, and graduate and undergraduate laborers.

Boulder County government employees have an “organizing committee,” Cahoon says. ey plan to a liate with a national union after they are organized. In the meantime, the AFL-CIO is providing a data base, legal counsel and training. e nurses at Longmont United Hospital won their election to establish a union recently. It took the local National Nurses United union eight months and a change in administration of the hospital. “It was a very close vote, “ he says. “Six ballots were challenged. e battle was fought locally, regionally, nationally.”

Nothing comes easy for the labor movement. But something big is happening. Victories at Starbucks, John Deere, Nabisco, Kellogg’s. According to Gallup, public support for unions is its highest since 1965. e AFL-CIO commissioned the progressive pollster Data for Progress to conduct an online survey of 1,300 voters asking them if they “approve or disapprove of employees going on strike in support of better wages, bene ts, and working conditions.”

Not surprisingly, 87% of Democrats approved of the walkouts. But 72% of independents and 60% of Republicans were also supportive. is opinion column does not necessarily re ect the views of Boulder Weekly.

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