WASHINGTON (1010 WINS) -- President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh met with the president of the Amazon Labor Union on Thursday in Washington, D.C.
The ALU became the first union to represent Amazon workers in the United States by winning an election at the JFK8 fulfillment center on Staten Island last month.
Before the meeting, ALU President Christian Smalls testified at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Amazon’s federal contracts.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who attended a rally with Smalls on April 23, has been pushing the White House to suspend Amazon’s government contracts until the company ends what Sanders described as “illegal anti-union activity.”
The National Labor Review Board criticized Amazon for forcing workers to attend mandatory anti-union meetings and forced Amazon to re-do an election at a Bessemer, Alabama warehouse after an investigation found the company engaged in illegal union crushing tactics.
Other grassroots labor leaders were present at the meeting with Biden, including union organizers from Starbucks, REI and an animation studio called Titmouse.
“Today, I met with grassroots worker organizers to thank them for their leadership in organizing unions,” wrote Biden on Twitter. “From the Amazon Labor Union to IATSE at Titmouse Productions, these folks are inspiring a movement of workers across the country to fight for the pay and benefits they deserve.”
Smalls wore his trademark “Eat the Rich” bomber jacket to the meeting.
Thursday’s meeting comes on the heels of a unionization vote loss at the LDJ5 Amazon sort center on Monday. LDJ5 is near JFK8, where the ALU won its first victory.
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