UPS Teamsters used a strike threat to win big wage increases in their tentative agreement. Amazon workers are looking at the pay gains as proof they can do the same.
More than a year after the Amazon Labor Union’s landmark victory at a Staten Island warehouse, Amazon still refuses to bargain with the union. Meanwhile, a reform caucus is pushing for the ALU to hold leadership elections.
In Kentucky, workers organizing for a union at Amazon's biggest air hub are demanding the rehire of fired activists. Despite the retaliation, "our activity has been contagious among our co-workers," writes Griffin Ritze. Workers in various departments have taken direct action for immediate demands.
As the economy opened up to women a half century ago, one in three working women was an office employee. As the clerical workforce grew by leaps and bounds, so did a sense of injustice among the women, leading to the founding of the 9 to 5 Movement.
An Amazon Labor Union lawyer called the punishment of Staten Island employees "a violation of workers' rights to join in a collective action about the terms and conditions of their employment."
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