10 • November 25, 2021 - December 1, 2021
THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
Union Matters Staten Island Amazon workers pause organizing effort By STEPHON JOHNSON Amsterdam News Staff It had a spark when it started, but now it’s over. Last week, Amazon workers on Staten Island withdrew their petition to unionize less than a few weeks before a hearing would show the amount of interest workers had in organizing. Organizers must submit signatures from at least 30% of the workers on staff to hold a hearing with the National Labor Relations Board. In this case, organizers had to acquire 30% of 5,500 workers at the Staten Island location. The AmNews contacted the original organizers of the Staten Island campaign multiple times to no avail.
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union head Stuart Appelbaum told the AmNews that this shouldn’t deter the first-time organizers from making another attempt. However, does the consistent turnover of Amazon employees render any organizing flawed and on shaky ground? Appelbaum told the AmNews to look back several months ago at a successful campaign against the online retail giant. “People all over the world, people like in Bessemer, Alabama, people in Staten Island, and people in Europe and elsewhere in the world are all complaining about the same sorts of things,” he said. “And that’s why there is high turnover at every Amazon warehouse.” In June, workers at an Amazon
No room for harassment and violence in our retail stores Stuart Appelbaum President, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Twitter: @sappelbaum. www.rwdsu.org
Retail sales in the U.S. are already surging as holiday shoppers are checking their lists and buying their gifts for the 2021 holiday season. It’s important that consumers are returning to stores this holiday season, but we are also concerned about an alarming uptick in harassment and abuse directed at retail workers, especially this year. Retail workers in New York—including thousands of RWDSU members at stores including Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, H&M, Zara, Guitar Center, and more—are eager to welcome customers back into stores this holiday season. However, workers are experiencing increased aggression and poor treatment from stressed out shoppers. It’s been a tough time for retail workers in the U.S. and across the globe. Besides the risks to the health of workers and their families that’s hung over retail during the entire pandemic, violence, abuse, and harassment on the job skyrocketed. Tensions rose as stores and governments instituted mask, social distancing, and other COVID safety protocols, and retail workers bore the brunt of customers’ anger, often fueled by misinformation and extreme political rhetoric. Workers were yelled at, spat upon, coughed on, and worse. Some workers have even been shot at—and some murdered—by irrational customers over mask and COVID restrictions. This type of behavior toward retail
workers needs to end, and can’t simply be shrugged off as “part of the job.” We owe it to these retail workers—who have courageously served us throughout the darkest days of the pandemic—to make this a stressfree holiday season. Even in the best of times, the holiday season is very stressful for workers at retail stores and supermarkets. Big crowds, irritable customers, hectic days and the need for workers themselves to take care of their own holiday obligations can all weigh heavily on workers’ shoulders this time of year. In 2021, however, with the pandemic still a part of our lives, this stress could be exponentially worse. All of this is aggravated by a shortage of goods caused by supply chain problems this holiday season. Retail workers can become the target of shoppers’ frustration when customers hear that coveted holiday items are stuck on shipping containers at sea and have been backordered for months, especially if they’ve gone to multiple stores only to go home empty-handed. This holiday season, we need to treat retail workers with dignity and respect, and we must understand that our own stress and the problems we are experiencing shouldn’t be placed on the shoulders of working people. Workers are not to blame. Stores should provide security, safety protocols and training to handle problems that may arise. It’s a time to come together this holiday season and do everything we can to reduce stress and anxiety for each other, and especially retail workers. A little extra kindness and understanding will go a very long way this holiday season.
fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama tried to organize to form a union and to collectively bargain so that they could ask for better wages, benefits, and work conditions. They accused Amazon of tampering with the voting process, which led to an eventual loss in the election. RWDSU officials then filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) challenging the results and accusing Amazon of violating parts of the National Labor Relations Act. In August, the NLRB confirmed that Amazon interfered with the election process, while the company denied any wrongdoing. Another clash between those two will happen soon when workers vote for a second time. Amazon officials have already, according to Reuters,
public comments about wanting to hear from employees (directly, rather than through a union), voicing skepticism that a union would have support from the employees, and circulating anti-union communications,” said Vincent. “It is a different warehouse, a different state, and a different set of employees. It is too early to know what will happen, but we are seeing the same trends. “Employees are frustrated and want better working conditions and benefits,” Vincent continued. “Amazon is sticking with what has worked for them in the past. At this point, I am waiting and watching.” According to a report by The New York Times, the employee turnover rate at Amazon is 150%. Appelbaum told the AmNews that
(Photo courtesy of mj0007 and deberarr via iStock)
Staten Island workers at Amazon quash organizing effort…for now.
made workers sit in on meetings, littered bathroom walls with antiunion propaganda and they have flown in staff from in the west coast to talk to workers. Attempts by the AmNews to contact Amazon were unsuccessful. Lynne Vincent, an assistant professor with industrial and labor relations at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, said in an emailed statement that Amazon’s actions in Bessemer and on Staten Island are yet again pushing its workers to want their employer to make their situation more comfortable. “Amazon is using their anti-union tactics that we have seen before—
the workers on Staten Island deserve praise and that the fight isn’t over. They have other places to look to for examples around the globe. “It worked in Alabama and elsewhere, that people are fed up, and they don’t feel that they should be treated this way,” said Appelbaum. “And I think that everyone should be encouraged by seeing people standing up to Amazon, regardless of what’s the initial result.” In a letter to shareholders earlier this year, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos promised everyone that he would make Amazon the planet’s “safest place to work.” According to workers on Staten Island, that hasn’t been the case.
