Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls caught on camera fighting Amazon worker last year amid union rift
Smalls on the red carpet for an event honoring Time magazine's 100 most influential people of 2022.Those characterizations struck some ALU organizers as erasing their painstaking work building support for the union among Amazon employees. And while the ALU had scored one early, momentous success at JFK8, elsewhere, it appeared the union's momentum was fizzling.
Among the organizers who bristled at Smalls' increasing status, Daley was especially incensed. In a New York Magazine cover story profiling Smalls, Daley publicly criticized Smalls, saying he had become self-centered and suggesting he was unfit to lead. Smalls celebrates with Amazon Labor Union organizers after winning a unionization vote at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, the first and only Amazon warehouse to vote to unionize.Daley responded to Smalls with threats, two other ALU members said, and was kicked off the union's messaging platforms and uninvited to meetings.
In a text message, Smalls criticized Insider's decision to report on the fight. There are"so many other things to report on with Amazon," he wrote, including that the company spentThe fight"isn't news for the public," he wrote."It happened months ago and we're not talking about it anymore.
In the year since the Amazon Labor Union won its election at JFK8, there have been few visible organizing gains affecting the nearly 6,000 workers in the facility. Several workers Insider spoke with outside the facility described feeling relatively disconnected from the union and unaware of the drama that was engulfing organizers.
Amazon Labor Union members consoled each other after the union lost the vote at its second warehouse, LDJ5, last April.Heather Goodall, who led the Amazon Labor Union's organizing efforts at an Albany warehouse last year, said Smalls' constant travel and seeming disorganization derailed her attempts to plan events around him.
Criticism of Smalls' lack of involvement in union elections at warehouses outside JFK8 is misplaced, Bryson said."You can't have someone like me over in Western Virginia recruit people. You gotta have the people in the building run it," he said."It's up to that person to give support to their building to unionize. It's not up to us.
Cusick next encountered Smalls at a labor conference in June, where Cusick said Smalls pushed him. On Twitter the next day, Smalls accused Cusick of stealing money from workers. That discrepancy is not necessarily an indicator of malfeasance, said John Logan, a labor studies professor at San Francisco State University who hasabout unions' required financial disclosures. It's not uncommon for young labor organizations to struggle to adhere to strict federal financial reporting requirements, he said.
Even as the Amazon Labor Union has splintered, Smalls and a core group of trusted lieutenants have begun turning their attention to new battles. But the new Congress of Essential Workers nonprofit also has grander ambitions, according to its incorporation documents and an interview with Bryson.
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