The man who beat Amazon says he’s just getting started

After becoming the first of the American workers of the online retailer vote in favor of forming a unionAmazon employees in New York don’t rest on their laurels.

“We already have interests in other buildings,” Christian Smalls, who led the incipient battle of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) against the $ 1.7 trillion company on CBS News, told CBS News. what the group plans. “In the last 48 hours, I’ve definitely been contacted by workers from all over the country who want to create their own Amazon union. We’ll absolutely help them.”

Smalls, who is interim president of the ALU, formed the group last year after Amazon he was fired in March 2020 after his efforts to organize protests against Amazon COVID-19[feminine[feminine protocols. He said the ALU wants to take its struggle to any Amazon facility where workers show interest in organizing.

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama last week voted for a second time on whether to unionize. The outcome of this vote is still unknown, pending a final vote count.

The ALU’s list of demands includes higher wages, more promotions and better working conditions. The union is calling on Amazon to increase its membership salary by 7.5% to match the rising inflation rate; restore 20-minute breaks and provide a shuttle service to workers.

The group’s victory on Staten Island is expected to reverberate across the country, as labor activists have long struggled to unionize workers with Amazon, the country’s second-largest private company behind Walmart. An Amazon spokesman told CBS News that the company is disappointed with the outcome of the vote and may challenge it.

Before being fired two years ago, Smalls worked as an Amazon processing assistant on Staten Island. Defending higher wages and better working conditions, he pointed to the physical strain of work at one of the company’s facilities, given its massive size.

“You’re doing 10 to 12 hours of calisthenics, not even including your commute, which could be two and a half or three hours depending on where you live in New York City,” he said.

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