Trade unions need to connect in a more relatable way with young people if they are to remain relevant, the man behind the only successful membership drive at an Amazon depot in the United States said at an event in Dublin over the weekend.
Speaking at the Robert Tressell festival — an event organised to celebrate the Irish-born author, born Robert Noonan, and his book, The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists — Chris Smalls said they also need legislative change, in the United States and Ireland, to remove restrictions on them representing those workers who want to be represented, something he criticised Joe Biden for failing to bring in over the past four years.
Smalls attracted a great deal of media attention in 2022 in US and internationally when he led the drive that ended with a majority vote in favour of union representation at Amazon’s JFK8 depot at Staten Island in New York. It remains the only vote of its kind at one of the company’s facilities in the United States.
The success is regarded as something of an inspirational tale by the US labour movement, and internationally, but subsequently divisions within the union and its continuing struggle to get the recognition to which the vote should entitle it from Amazon might be regarded as more of a cautionary one.
Smalls has been criticised by fellow organisers for travelling too much to make public appearances when they believe the ongoing work at JFK8 required all his attention.
On Saturday, at Liberty Hall, at an event also addressed by President Michael D Higgins, former British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, rail union leader Mick Lynch and Dublin MEP Clare Daly, Smalls said the criticism came from people who didn’t understand grassroots organisation.
He said the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) needs to be part of a wider network if it is to survive and criticisms have been amplified by a company determined to discredit him as part of its ongoing effort, much of it in the courts, to resist having to sign a deal.
“We are still the only union voted for by American Amazon workers but we are being crushed,” he told the audience at the event, which included speeches, workshops and music from performers including Lankum’s Daragh Lynch.
“They are attacking me in the media now. I used to be the fired Amazon worker. Now, I’m the celebrity activist that globe-trots. But they don’t understand grassroots organising. The reason why I’m here and not home is because I have to plant these seeds internationally.”
Smalls’ potshots at “big labour” might have made for slightly uncomfortable listening for a crowd that included quite a few senior officials with Irish trade unions.
He noted the lack of young people in the auditorium, something he suggested was a symptom of the movement’s wider struggle to connect with young workers. “Let’s start by inviting them in because we need them if we are to build an intergenerational, multicoloured movement.”
Having previously rejected overtures from big unions in New York, Smalls has more recently alienated other would-be allies by failing to publicly support the bid for Biden’s re-election. The US president welcomed Smalls to the White House in the wake of the Amazon vote but the 35-year-old has declined to voice support for him or Donald Trump.
“The Democrats are losing the support of young people because of the position on Palestine and their alignment with big corporations,” he said. “There is a homelessness crisis in the United States, a mental health crisis but no healthcare system and Biden has nothing for unions during his first term.”
The ALU is obliged to hold an election for president soon and Smalls has said he will not be a candidate as he wants to focus on building that wider campaign for the unionisation of Amazon workers.
“I’m transitioning up,” he said with a smile. Rivals at the ALU have suggested it is more “transitioned out” but with senior Amazon management having once suggested the drive at JFK8 was likely to flounder because Smalls was “not smart or articulate,” even his critics will be wary of underestimating his ability to defy the odds again.
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