The union struggle that Amazon wants to quell

Amazon workers protesting in New York this February.Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images

Unionizing in some sectors of the US economy is risky activity.

This is well known to the nearly 6,000 workers at an Amazon distribution center in Bessemer, Alabama, who have been pressured for weeks by the company to give up the

revolutionary

effort to form a union.

Employees claim extreme working conditions: removal of cell phones during shifts;

meager lunch and bathroom breaks or races against the clock to travel the equivalent of 14 football fields from the resort entrance and clock in on time.

Being late can cost a cut in pay or a layoff, employees say.

The Alabama warehouse has only been open for a year - it was opened to handle the high demand caused by the pandemic - so you can imagine the same, or even worse, in other older logistics centers.

Like those of Queens and Staten Island (New York), whose alleged security deficit during the pandemic, and the retaliation of the company to those who denounced it, are the subject of a lawsuit by the State's attorney, Laetitia James.

"It is not my intention to drive Amazon out of the city, but to protect the safety and health of the workers," he said.

The self-defense of the worker against powerful economic interests is at stake, in one of the most cutting-edge areas, due to market figures and exponential growth;

an almost untouchable sector.

But draconian conditions, threats and even layoffs of those who dare to stick their heads above the crowd, have put the spotlight on the tech giant, the second largest employer in the US - with 400,000 workers in warehouses and delivery points alone. , whose profits have soared thanks to the pandemic.

If the laws of the state do not help, as in Alabama, the union struggle becomes titanic.

The southern one, one of the 27 "right to work states" where employees are not required to pay dues to the unions that represent them, is home to the only Mercedes-Benz plant in the world that does not have one.

A favorable terrain for Amazon, which insists that it already offers its workers what the unions demand: benefits, development opportunities and a salary that starts at $ 15 an hour.

Although large technology is an inclement terrain for union activity, due to its individualistic work culture and ironclad corporate silence, in January Google workers took a step forward and organized themselves into the first union in the field.

After a year of secret negotiations, 225 engineers from Alphabet Inc, Google's parent company, formed a union that aims to ensure equality at work and the observance of ethical principles in the business model.

The training is a direct consequence of unprecedented protests within the company.

The key difference between the advancement of Google and the struggle of the Amazon employees lies in their qualifications;

in the sidereal distance that goes from the white-collar workers of Google to those in blue overalls: the warehouse workers, carters or packers of the logistics centers.

Alabama's is the largest union effort at the company since its founding in 1995, after having silenced partner initiatives at its Whole Foods supermarket chain;

hence the fear that it will cause a chain reaction.

Through daily SMS and messages on a website created expressly to discourage mobilization, the company tried to convince the staff that a union would only take money from them - for fees - without reporting benefits;

he also urged workers to "not abandon the winning team," but to no avail.

Until March 29, and by email -Trabajo rejected the company's request that the vote be in person-, the almost 6,000 employees of the Bessemer warehouse will be able to comment on their representation.

The last time Amazon workers tried to organize was in 2014, in a residual initiative that was unsuccessful when 21 technicians at a Delaware warehouse voted against joining the Machinists Association against six who were in favor.

Amazon has 1.3 million employees worldwide.

So, in addition to a reissue of David's fight against Goliath, the union germ in one of the

Big Five

- the big five technology companies - has a halo of pioneerism similar to that which encouraged the messianic task of forging the country.

That is to say: entering unknown territory, but without equipment, hence victims must be lamented.

Last March, Amazon fired a worker for leading a strike at the Staten Island warehouse demanding protection against the coronavirus.

The staff who joined were also fired, although Amazon argues that for other reasons.

Even a vice president, Tim Bray, resigned last spring, claiming he could not continue while employees were silenced.

In October, the company confirmed that 20,000 of its workers had tested positive for coronavirus.

The fired, of intermediate rank, had demanded a quarantine after a roommate was infected.

“My goal is to protect the safety and health of workers.

Amazon has the door of my office open, we can arbitrate a conciliation that involves the rehiring of those laid off, and the safeguarding of health and safety at work, and with that we will have resolved the problem, "said prosecutor James this week in a virtual forum organized by

The New York Times

.

“I am guided by a very simple concept, that of justice;

defend the rights of individuals, especially when powerful companies trample them, ”he stressed.

The first, and only, voice that the word "rights" has used to raise the issue.

Growing frustration

Although without going to the extreme of McDonald's, which went so far as to create fake Facebook profiles to track employees who organize protests demanding wage increases, the growing frustration in a high-wage sector such as technology - as long as the recipient is a white-collar professional, not a warehouse porter - has highlighted unhealthy working conditions within large corporations;

a company culture that permeates the entire structure, and burdens the base.

The New York State Attorney General alluded to this climate on Monday as well as the flood of lawsuits filed against Big Tech for violating antitrust laws.

“During the previous Administration, the federal government was conspicuous by its absence in many areas, especially in the area of ​​antitrust laws.

The thing is, these big companies stifle competition, innovation and creativity, and threaten our privacy by monetizing our data.

Hence the importance that myself and other attorneys general in the country have decided to take legal action against

Big Tech,

”said Laetitia James.