The ALU can still win on this battlefield. Better organized than many older unions, it understands that the workers on the inside need to be the focus of its efforts. Read the complete article here >> Read More
Today’s historic win took place in what Amazon calls a fulfillment center. Next up, workers in a nearby warehouse on Staten Island, called a sortation facility (known as LDJ5), will have the opportunity to join their newly unionized Amazon Labor Union colleagues. Nothing helps workers decide to vote yes like seeing other workers win—which is just one of many reasons this victory is so important. Read More
Earlier today the NLRB announced the results of the vote on whether workers at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., would join a union. The vote was 738 in favor to 1,798 against. It’s bad news, but it doesn’t mean workers in future Amazon campaigns won’t or can’t win. They can. Read More
This is an excerpt from my book, No Shortcuts, pertinent to the vote by Amazon workers in Alabama. This chapter demonstrates how motivation and strategy may have more to do with failure and success across all sectors of workers than previously thought. Most academics have long assumed that organizing the unorganized might be possible only among low-wage service workers. Read More
There is a massive power play taking place right now, being led by some of the biggest titans of industry—particularly in Silicon Valley—who seek to avoid having to contribute to society at all by rewriting the legal status of their workers. The current debate about who is a worker, who is an independent contractor, and who is legally eligible for things like Social Security and unemployment insurance centers around the question of whether state and federal policy makers accept or reject what is referred to as a “third category” of worker. Read More