The historic victory of Amazon workers who formed a union at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York City, in April 2022 inspired workers around the world.
The independent, grassroots effort to unionise workers at the JFK8 Fulfillment Centre is the subject of a new documentary, Union, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year.
The film follows charismatic Amazon Labor Union (ALU) founder and then-president Christian Smalls and a team of Amazon workers as they undertake the “David and Goliath” battle against one of the biggest companies in the world.
Amazon is the second-largest employer in the United States, after Walmart, with more than 1.1 million employees, but workers are treated like robots, working long hours with limited breaks and low pay.
Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is the second-richest person in the world, with a net-worth of about US$250 billion.
Union opens with Bezos blasting into space on his rocket, making the vast divide between workers and bosses clear.
Smalls was fired from Amazon for organising a protest against the lack of personal protective equipment provided to workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
Smalls founded the ALU along with other workers to fight against the “slave-like” conditions in Amazon warehouses.
The film depicts the difficulties in organising workers, with Smalls and other ALU organisers shown working hard gathering signatures for a petition to form a union at the site.
The high-turnover rate at Amazon — with half the workforce replaced every six months — meant organisers had to race to get signatures before those workers were sacked.
The films cinéma vérité, or observational, style gives an insight into the arduous process, including organising daily barbecues, regular online meetings, phone banking, one-on-one conversations and combating the constant propaganda from Amazon against the union.
However, the film would benefit from some structured interviews to give more detailed background on the campaign.
Union also reflects the sense of community, created by the process of organising, with workers who previously felt isolated and powerless finding fulfilment fighting to improve their workplace conditions.
“Even though all of us come from different backgrounds, we’ve developed a family bond that will never ever be broken,” one organiser says.
The film reflects that unionising is not a linear process, but has many ups and downs. The lack of institutional support from any established major unions also made the process more difficult.
Smalls told the Guardian in 2020: “If established unions had been effective, they would have unionized Amazon already. We have to think about 21st century-style unionizing. It’s we build up the workers’ solidarity.”
The film also highlights how disagreements over strategy and tactics can demoralise workers and discourage them from organising.
Organisers reflect when handing out flyers that “very few of us have ever been in a union” and that lot of workers are “brainwashed” or “tired” and these barriers prevent people getting involved.
However, the film emphasises that the main barrier to overcome was Amazon’s union-busting efforts. Amazon hired union-busters for $3200 a day to combat the ALU’s campaign.
The film depicts workers, including new employees, being sent to meetings in which managers gave presentations encouraging workers to vote “No” to the unionisation ballot. It reveals the many lies used to sow distrust and fear among Amazon workers.
ALU organisers were also targeted for punishment and threat of termination because of their involvement in the union — something relevant in Australia as Woolworths begins to terminate workers involved in the historic strike and pickets in December.
In the end, the ALU won the vote at JFK8 by more than 500 votes, with 2654 workers voting in favour of a union and 2131 voting against. The film depicts the joy and relief at the victory, while also acknowledging that it was only the first step in a longer campaign.
Indeed, Amazon immediately challenged the result, attempting to delay the unionisation process.
Since the film’s release, the ALU has affiliated with the Teamsters union, with members voting to ratify the relationship in June.
Union is worth a watch for anyone interested in building workers’ power and resisting the constant attempts by mega-corporations to reverse hard-won rights.
The film was released independently, with some distributors refusing to release it because of ties with Amazon’s film and television wing. It is available to rent at unionthefilm.com.