10 • May 5, 2022 - May 11, 2022
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Union Matters Amazon and the power of a rejuvenated labor movement GEORGE
GRESHAM What was once barren swampland on the Northwestern edge of Staten Island is today host to one of the most consequential happenings in the modern labor movement: the quest to organize Amazon. Amazon is one of the largest, most powerful corporations in the world. Its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, whose personal fortune is estimated—and I say estimated because his bank account grows by $8 or $9 million dollars every hour—at more than $177 billion. His employees on the other hand, who work hard sorting packages and helped make Amazon the second trillion-dollar company in history, would have to work full-time for over 4 years to make what Jeff Bezos earns every second of every hour of every day. So, it’s no surprise that frontline Amazon workers, forced to work in dangerous, grueling conditions throughout a pandemic while their boss played astronaut and flew to space wearing cowboy boots, felt a little exploited. The obviousness that Amazon workers should band together to demand a greater share of the wealth they produce by no means diminishes what they recently accomplished at the company’s JFK8 fulfillment center, one of the major hubs of Amazon’s operations on the East Coast. Some 8,000 workers saw past managerial pressure, flagrant unfair labor practices, and anti-union lies to win a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union election at the giant warehouse, the first successful attempt to form a union at Amazon anywhere in the United States. And truth be told, members of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), the new union’s name, did so without a lot of help from established labor organizations, which had tried and failed to organize workers at the company. It parallels the early days of my own union, 1199SEIU, which was created nearly a century ago by a rag-tag group of pharmacy workers, mostly Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. They grew our union from meager beginnings to a pioneering force in the labor and civil rights movements, and today is the largest union of healthcare workers in the U.S. We are witnessing something remarkable. Young people like Christian Smalls, the exAmazon worker and founder/president of the ALU, and Angelika Maldonado, the chair of the ALU’s Workers Committee (both of whose mothers we are proud to say are part of our 1199SEIU family), are helping to lead a rebirth of the U.S. labor movement.
This couldn’t have come soon enough. To have any chance of curtailing vast income inequality and the corporate greed that is slowly but surely eroding our democracy, we need the energy, ideas, and leadership of the next generation. For the first time, young people are poised to be worse off than their parents’ generation. This is why growing the labor movement is so essential. It is well-documented that union members make more money and enjoy more job-related benefits and protections than non-union workers. Strong unions even improve wages for non-union members who do the same work or live in the same community because, like the old folks used to say, a rising tide floats all boats. Pay is always competitive—if one shop is paying $20 an hour, its competitors have to pay the same or more if they hope to recruit workers. According to a January 2022 report by the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit organization that advocates for national policies benefiting low and middle-income Americans, workers represented by a union contract are paid on average 10.2% more than non-unionized employees with the same education and experience. The difference in union vs. non-union compensation is even greater for people of color. Unionized Black workers make 13% more than their non-union counterparts, and Hispanics 18.8% more. That’s a lot of extra money going into families’ pocketbooks and reinvested in our communities. The union difference doesn’t stop there. When it comes to benefits, 95% of workers under a union contract have employee-sponsored health benefits compared to just 69% of non unionized workers. Pensions, once a mainstay of Americans’ retirement, are almost unheard of in non-union settings these days. And this is to say nothing of the non-economic advantages of union membership, like job security and a fair process for handling workplace issues. Given the clear and indisputable benefits that workers achieve by organizing, you would think that rates of union membership would be skyrocketing. Far from it. Union membership among private employers has fallen by 507,000 members since 2019, and by 74,000 in unions representing public sector employees, according to the EPI report. That’s bad for all of us, particularly as the richest one percent continue to see their fortunes grow as our nation wrestles with the economic fallout of a pandemic that has hit low-income people especially hard. It is difficult to organize a union—the chips are stacked against workers who are subjected to constant pressure See GRESHAM on page 36
Endorsements galore for candidates and unions By STEPHON JOHNSON Amsterdam News Staff
Unions have been busy the past several weeks handing out endorsements to candidates, with primary season—while pushed back—coming soon. Last week, District Council 37 endorsed CUNY professor Dr. Anthony Andrews Jr. for State Assembly District DC37 endorses Dr. Anthony Andrews Jr. for NY State Assembly. 32 in Queens. (Photo courtesy of Dr. Anthony Andrews Jr. for Assembly) “Dr. Andrews is one of the hardest working and most service-minded leaders there is. He (NYSUT) and the American Federation of Teachers. has been serving his community for decades Not to be outdone, 1199SEIU endorsed current in many different roles and capacities,” stated Assembly Member Brian Cunningham for BrookHenry Garrido, executive director of DC37. “We lyn’s 43rd district. are proud to stand with our union brother as he “I look forward to progressing legislation to create hopes to continue the fight for organized labor a healthier planet, to promote good jobs and ecoin Albany.” nomic justice, to pursue quality health care for all, Andrews unveiled his plans to run for the New and more,” stated Cunningham. “Having their supYork State Assembly seat on the promise of reform- port will make our coalition for this progressive legising taxes, building more affordable housing, and im- lative agenda all that much more powerful.” proving the overall quality of life for his constituents. Cunningham won a special election in March “Before I was an educator or a union delegate, I and is primed to run for the assembly seat in the priwas a DC37 member first,” stated Andrews. “They maries, which have been pushed back to August. were the first union I was ever a part of; it is inspiring 1199SEIU Downstate Political Director Dell Smiththat they would be the first to stand with me. We have erman stated that the Flatbush-raised Cunningham fought side-by-side for issues in the past and I look would be an important asset to the union’s mission forward to continuing that fight in Albany.” of improving conditions and quality of life for workAndrews is currently a professor and the director of ing New Yorkers. student Leadership at CUNY York College and pre“Assemblymember Cunningham has long viously served as the chair of Queens Hospital Cen- been a fierce advocate for Brooklyn’s working ter’s Community Advisory Board. He’s also a union families and he continues to prove that every delegate for the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY day up in Albany,” said Smitherman. “We look (PSC-CUNY), the union that represents CUNY’s fac- forward to working with him to continue to deulty and staff, the New York State Union Teachers liver progress for all New Yorkers.”
School janitors emerge victorious in NLRB case By STEPHON JOHNSON Amsterdam News Staff It took almost a full year’s worth of fighting, but for 27 workers from the Moorestown School District in New Jersey, it was worth it. Ten months into a battle with Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (HCSG), the workers reached a settlement with the janitorial contractor, which includes From left to right: Nereida Rojas, 32BJ NJ District Leader Luz Garate, Luis Orozco, Henry Cabrera, 32BJ Representative $400,000 in back payments, reFrancis Cuadrado, Maritza Orozco, Luz Ortega, and Antonio imbursement of medical expensJimenez (Photo courtesy of SEIU 32BJ) es that accrued during the fight, and the return of their jobs. “These members have been fight- ings, signed petitions, and more. We are ing for 10 months,” stated 32BJ Executive pleased with the NLRB’s management of the Vice President & New Jersey State Direc- case and that HCSG accepted a settlement. tor Kevin Brown. “They told their stories More than anything, we are pleased that the at the monthly board of education meetSee JANITORS on page 36
