I will note that the NLRB ALJ hearings in NYC this week, as to JFK-8, are still in arguments over whether live in person hearings will be used to examine witnesses, or if Zoom will be allowed. The company says it cannot be sure witnesses are not attending, in advance (to shape their later testimony) -- if a Zoom setup is used.
But (the Union replies) that was always true. In fact, during the pandemic, far larger cases were tried and decided by Zoom -- and the regular rule is that the lawyer must swear that his/her witnesses have not been using the electronic means to monitor the earlier days of trial, and shape testimony. So I expect Amazon will lose on that motion (but with the delays in electronic docketing, there is no way to know yet).
So, in the mean-time, do go read this (and pick up the referenced book -- on Amazon, no less!) -- here's a bit:
. . .Many visions for new models of collective bargaining have emerged among the different organizing efforts of Amazon workers. Stepping into this moment of hope, this piece will draw on the conceptual framework that Erica Smiley and Sarita Gupta laid out in their recently published book, The Future We Need: Organizing for a Better Democracy in the Twenty-First Century (2022).
Elaborating on the themes of the book, we explore the ways that collective bargaining can evolve to meet the challenges of our new economy. . . .
The historic approach to collective bargaining, established in the National Labor Relations Act, provides workers with necessary mechanisms for exercising power in their workplaces. These mechanisms have been battered over time as corporate forces have worked to roll back labor rights. Analysts have, for decades, proclaimed the death of the labor movement and the outmodedness of this form of collective bargaining. The hard-fought victory of workers in Staten Island, however, reminded critics that collective bargaining remains one of the most important tools working people can wield to improve their living and working conditions.
But these workers’ decision to use this important tool was not driven by the narrow workplace orientation that has shaped much of the contemporary labor movement. The organizers at Staten Island were catalyzed into action alongside the explosive growth of the movement for Black Lives following the murder of George Floyd and pressurized by the COVID-19 pandemic and its disproportionate impacts on people of color.
These Black-led organizing efforts addressed the issues of all Amazon workers and challenged Amazon’s racist treatment of Black and Brown workers. They took on Amazon’s intense quota system reminiscent of the “pushing” system developed on plantations and the employment of primarily white police officers as security officers overseeing a predominantly Black workforce in Alabama. . . .
We shall see -- but this is an amazing moment in the history of US organized labor. Smile. . . .
नमस्ते
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