Amazon

Wins at Amazon and Starbucks Shouldn't Obscure the Hard Road Independent Unions Face

by Erik Loomis

The improvised and worker-led efforts to organize the new economy giants has led some commenters to proclaim the end of big labor. A labor historian says that workers still need the resources and support of legacy unions – if they commit to organizing new workplaces – to win against employers more determined than ever to bust unions. 

Lula's Defeat of Bolsonaro is a Victory for Brazil and the Planet

by Juan Cole

A second Bolsonaro term would have promised more of the dangerous combination of resource extraction and anti-indigenous racism that have guided accelerated deforestation of the Amazon. 

Should the USPS Honor the Sabbath, or Amazon?

by Rebecca Brenner Graham

A Pennsylvania postal worker's lawsuit claims religious discrimination because he was scheduled to deliver Amazon packages on Sunday. The history of Sunday mail service shows the case is about anxiety over power in society as much as religious obligation. 

Three Paths for Labor after Amazon

by Harmony Goldberg and Erica Smiley

The organizers of the Staten Island Amazon union mobilized a broad sense of justice politics not limited to the workplace. It remains to be seen how they can win allies in labor and the government to continue to organize against a wealthy and hostile company. 

Labor Historian: Amazon's Warehouse Victory is a Big Step, But Just a Step

Cornell's Ilene DeVault says the organization of Amazon's Staten Island warehouse is more important that unionization at Starbucks for the reversal of the decades-long attack on organized labor in the US. 

The Amazon Union Vote is a Win for Hope

by Ian Rocksborough-Smith

"Despite historically low unionization rates, recent polls suggest at least 2/3 of Americans approve of labor unions – the highest approval rating since 1965. The ALU seems to have come along at exactly the right moment."

How Did Amazon Workers Win a Union? Look Back 100 Years

by Kim Kelly

The radical Black waterfront worker and organizer Ben Fletcher established a model of a democratic, antiracist, integrated labor union on Philadelphia's waterfront that echoes in the worker-led victory in establishing a union at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse. 

The Rise and Fall (And Rise?) of Labor

Historian Erik Loomis discusses whether the wave of labor activism will start to reverse a half-century of successful union busting by big business. 

New Translations Give Indigenous Perspective on Brazilian Colonization

The Potiguara people split their alliances between the Dutch and Portuguese in 1645; the letters show the consequences of the split and the internal politics of the indigenous nation. 

Black Amazon Workers Keep Finding Nooses on the Job. The Company Owes them Action

by Keisha N. Blain

The incidents are part of an old and familiar story of resentment against Black advancement. 

Amazon’s Greatest Weapon Against Unions: Worker Turnover

Labor historians Nelson Lichtenstein and Joe McCartin say that Amazon's corporate turn against retaining employees reverses longstanding business strategies because it makes organizing unions extremely difficult. 

Why the Amazon Workers Never Stood a Chance

by Erik Loomis

"We may be in a period where economic justice concerns are more central to our politics than any time since the mid-20th century. But without a new round of labor law reform, organized labor cannot succeed."

The Union Battle at Amazon Is Far from Over

by Alec MacGillis

The effort to organize Amazon's Alabama warehouse workers has failed. In this, it resembles the early stages of other organizing efforts that led to the brief golden era of American labor. Unexpected contingencies helped push management of American industry to accept unions by the 1940s despite their violent opposition decades before. 

What a Unionization Effort in Alabama Could Mean for the Labor Movement

Historian Keri Leigh Merritt discusses the Amazon unionization vote in the context of southern labor history.

The Bessemer, Alabama Amazon Union Election Campaign

Historians look at the just-concluded union election campaign at Amazon's Alabama facilty and await the results. 

The Ultimate David and Goliath Fight in Alabama

The effort to organize Amazon Workers in Bessemer, Alabama may succeed if it connects the cause of labor to broader civil rights issues that resonate with the local Black community and echo the involvement of Martin Luther King in struggles for workers and economic justice, say historians Keri Leigh Merritt and Michael Innis-Jiménez. 

Can a Grand Bargain Empower Amazon’s Workers and Limit Corporate Power?

by Nelson Lichtenstein

"Unions are weaker today than they were in the 1930s, but the idea that wages have to rise and democracy has to be revitalized, in the workplace and beyond, is returning in an echo of that era."

Biden Supports Amazon Workers' Right to Form a Union. Is this a Turn Back to Pro-Worker Policy?

by Martin Halpern

The union election of Amazon workers in Alabama is a signal of momentum for renewing the power of workers, but grassroots energy needs support from the Biden White House (and probably the end of the Senate filibuster) to secure a more equitable society. 

Aruká Juma, Last Man of His Tribe, Is Dead

As the last fluent speaker of the tribe’s language, Mr. Juma’s death means that much of the tribe’s language and many of its traditions and rituals will be forever lost.

Why Biden’s Forceful Endorsement Of Labor Is The Strongest From A POTUS In Decades

Labor historians Karen Sawislak and Erik Loomis discuss how Joe Biden's endorsement of freedom of workers to form a union (without mentioning Amazon in particular) goes against decades-long trends in the political power and cultural esteem of labor unions.