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I began writing this piece long before @BAmazonUnion, at the height of pandemic organizing this time last year. But I was happy to publish it now in part bc of pessimism within the labor movement about prospects for warehouse organizing since the vote 1/10 https://bostonreview.net/class-inequality/nantina-vgontzas-amazon-after-bessemer
We must be clear about the constraints imposed by Amazon's tight control over its tech & logistics networks, as I discuss toward the conclusion. But it is precisely bc of these constraints that we need visions around which solidarity can be built across the supply chain 2/10
The Bessemer campaign has advanced public discourse not only about labor abuses at Amazon and the grievances of its vast workforce, but also about the tools needed for building power within the company 3/10
These range from tactical models focused on building organizing committees with mass shop coverage, to labor law reforms e.g PRO Act, to greater investment, scale & coordination among an array of movement forces that can circumvent redundancies built into Amazon's networks 4/10
To best make use of these tools, we need demands unifying tech workers, logistics workers, grocery workers, customer service workers, data center workers & their communities. I tried showing that these demands can emerge from a vision of changing who Amazon protects & serves 5/10
And that ultimately comes down to who controls Amazon's infrastructure, and to what end: to grow at the expense of worker health and the environment, or to grow at a reasonable rate that promotes care? To impose inhumane rates and raise emissions, or to curtail them? 6/10
These are all questions to be solved over the course of struggle. And that's where I want to end, where I started, Bessemer. It could be that a labor movement that remains hesitant to invest in this struggle is glum about the results. Luckily, workers view them differently 7/10
As an @NYCAmazonians member quoted by @randwilson says, "Folks hoped that it would go through. But no one seemed deflated by the result. Instead we talked about the walkout over @AUchicagoland's megacycle demands" 8/10 https://rand-wilson.medium.com/an-amazon-warehouse-worker-talks-about-the-impact-of-the-bessemer-union-election-40f34cc6fdc6
So please, as @IndigoOlivier says https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/apr/13/amazon-won-the-alabama-union-fight-but-dont-mourn-organize, don't mourn; organize.
And in particular, support those organizing in the trenches. You know where to find them. Our comrade @CharmaineSChua spelled it out
9/10 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/04/amazon-global-supply-chains-organizing-unionize-logistics
And in particular, support those organizing in the trenches. You know where to find them. Our comrade @CharmaineSChua spelled it out
9/10 https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/04/amazon-global-supply-chains-organizing-unionize-logistics
I wrote the piece because essential workers made possible the very fact of demanding that capital not be prioritized over their health and the public's. They gave me confidence in values we don’t often get to see in this world, and in the possibility of that happening again 10/10
