The Amazon Labor Union and The Teamsters

 From Rob McKenzie *

I found the news that the Amazon Labor Union would pursue affiliation with the Teamsters Union troubling. The ALU victory at the JFK site was among the most positive labor developments of the century. Only months before workers at Amazon in Alabama had voted against union authorization with the well-funded Retail Workers and Department Store Union/UFCW even though President Biden had publicly urged them to vote to unionize. The ALU won with no serious money or trained staff emphasizing a constitution that limited officer pay to a maximum of 2 1/2 times the average pay in the bargaining unit. (this is from the UE). They gave the members wide latitude to make decisions by voting. They eschewed political endorsements that focused on the egos of union leaders. This was a tribute to a relatively new idea,  "worker-led organizing." The tireless work and courage of the work site organizing accomplished what money couldn't.

 

The success at JFK could not be repeated. It was unclear to me that the JFK model continued to be followed. Another Amazon union election in the following weeks featured Bernie Sanders and AOC at a plant gate rally. As much I wished this was where workers were at, it seemed the ALU had abandoned one of its tenets, the promise not to focus on electoral politics. The ALU president, Chris Smalls appeared to pursue a strategy of high-profile media events. I saw no continuation of the dedicated workplace organizing needed to secure a contract with Amazon.

 

Smalls and his supporters changed the ALU constitution to allow him to stay on as president until a contract had been negotiated. This was challenged in court by opponents who prevailed and an election was scheduled for this summer. The problem is that I don't think the ALU has enough money or resources to conduct an election.

 

I have attached the ALU LM Report for 2023. The LM is a union financial report required by the government. https://olmsapps.dol.gov/query/orgReport.do?rptId=890261&rptForm=LM2Form

 

The ALU took in $735 in dues.  They received a $425,000 donation from the International Commission For Labor Rights in New York City. The  ICLR apparently has Solidarity Center members on its board. My speculation about this is that the Biden administration utilized the government-funded Solidarity Center to finance the ALU experiment in unionization. It certainly was not an open-ended move to indefinitely fund it. I believe the ALU is now insolvent and has no other option but to pursue an affiliation.

 

The possibility remains that the ALU course originally adopted could have prevailed. We won't know. The vote on a Teamster affiliation will be interesting. I don't know who will conduct it. Will Amazon be able to run another anti-union campaign? Will this turn into a rerun of the authorization vote on grounds that Amazon is very familiar with? The Teamsters are susceptible to the attacks employers commonly utilize. I wonder how Shawn O'Brien will play at JFK? 

 

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*Bob McKenzie, is a retired UAW rank and file member and president of Ford local 879 in ST Paul MN. He spent many years investigating the events at Ford’s Cuautitlán Assembly Plant near Mexico City in 1990-91 where workers were attacked violently by organized gangs. His research resulted in the Book El Golpe where he details the collaboration between the AFL-CIO’s regional organization, AIFLD (American Institute for Free Labor Development), the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), the US State Department, the Mexican government, leaders of the CTM (Mexican labor movement) and Ford Motor Company management against a democratic, rank-and-file, shopfloor-based organization of auto workers.

 

His findings are important reading for all workers, socialists and activists if we are to build any serious links with workers internationally.  Brother Mckenzie's book detailing the events at the Ford plant in Mexico City and the role of the CIA can be purchased at Pluto Press, Barnes and Noble and other outlets. Kim Scipes reviews the book here.

Amazon Labor Union Leader Admitted to “Choking” Ex-Girlfriend

Reprinted from Payday Report

This is not good news. However, Payday Report is not known for dishonest reporting which is what this would be if it were not true. There is no doubt the folks leading these struggles, like brother Christian Smalls and others at places like Amazon and Starbucks, are coming under massive pressure from the bosses but also the entrenched bureaucracy atop organized labor with its 14 million members.

The present leaders of organized labor are terrified of any threats from within organized labor and outside it that might threaten and undermine their positions based on labor peace and cooperation with the bosses. The present struggles to organize the millions of lower waged and unorganized workers is a threat to them and their class collaborationist policies and they will try to undermine or co-opt it. It is no accident that the AFL-CIO leaders never invited some of the leaders of these organizing drives to the federation's convention last summer despite having a session on organizing. While I am not fully aware of the developments within the ALU and cannot vouch for the complete accuracy of the details in the Payday Report, I think it is more likely true than not. RM Admin

Amazon labor Union Leader Vice President Derrick Palmer (left) and Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls (right) are close allies. Smalls has yet to remove Palmer after he admitted on tape to choking his girlfriend.

By: Mike Elk May 8, 2023

Earlier this year, Payday reported on the dysfunctionality and lack of union democracy within the Amazon Labor Union that had led to several high-profile lopsided defeats and the abandonment of some organizing drives. The union currently lacks any constitution. Even more troubling, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) president Chris Smalls has said that he will wait three years before even holding union leadership elections as the union loses its momentum and suffers defeat after defeat. 

At the time, Payday received much criticism for our reporting on the dysfunctionality and union democracy within the union. 

One union PR consultant, who was employed by over a dozen unions including ALU, threatened that if Payday continued to provide critical coverage of union democracy issues within the Amazon Labor Union that PR consultant would blacklist Payday from getting interviews with other union leaders that he represented. (Fortunately, Payday is often far more interested in speaking to rank-and-file union members than union bureaucrats interested in this kind of blackmail for simply telling the truth).

For months, many questioned our reporting and even our motives, but since then we have been vindicated.  Major outlets such as the New York Times have come out with indepth reporting that confirms and expands upon much of Payday’s reporting. 

Now, a new expose by Insider reveals that Amazon Labor Union vice president Derrick Palmer admitted on tape to choking his ex-girlfriend and is currently facing criminal charges for it.  Not only did Palmer admit to choking his ex-girlfriend, but photographs of her neck obtained by police showed clear physical signs of choking. 

Despite Palmer’s video-taped confession of choking his ex-girlfriend and physical evidence of injury backing up the confession, Amazon Labor Union Chris Smalls has refused to remove his close ally as Vice President of the Amazon Labor Union or even publicly address the situation. 

Without a union constitution and no elections, union members have no way to change course. Meanwhile, the Amazon Labor Union, under Chris Smalls, suffers embarrassing defeat after defeat. 

For nearly a decade, Payday Report has been one of the few outlets to cover sexual assault within the labor movement. I’ve felt passionate because I’ve seen how the culture within unions can turn toxic when leadership permits sexual misconduct to happen. (See our 2020 piece “Breaking the Code of Silence on Sexual Misconduct within the Labor Movement”)

When unions permit sexual misconduct to persist in their leadership, they decay as an organization and they often do as we have seen here in Pittsburgh. At the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, union leaders violently retaliated against a sexual misconduct whistleblower and refused to clean up their act. The result is that their union is currently losing an 8-month strike where 2/3rd of the union has either crossed the picket line or found work elsewhere. 

Allowing union leaders, who have committed sexual misconduct, to cling to power almost always results in unions losing in the workplace. 

Many left-leaning so-called “labor journalists” have looked the other way and even helped to cover up abuse because they depend on union leaders to promote their work.

However, Payday Report has continued to report on sexual misconduct because it’s just simply wrong. We have been able to do this because our readers have always gotten our back in covering tough stories of sexual misconduct, union democracy, and accountability within the labor movement.