»This is the only way we can stand up to Amazon« (daily newspaper Junge Welt)
Amazon employees met in Geneva last weekend. Into the ones there Offices of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Luden die “Amazon Workers International”, AWI, a. Who was present and was it the first meeting of this art?
It was not the first meeting of the AWI. Our transnational grassroots network of active Amazon unionists has been meeting since 2015. But it was the first time that a larger number of workers from the US and Canada were able to come to the networking meetings, which have so far been mainly European in character. Also present in Geneva were colleagues from Germany from Verdi, from France from SUD Solidaires, from Poland from the workers’ initiative IP, from Spain from the CGT and from Italy from the “Social Strike” network – a total of about 30 people. A representative of the Make Amazon Pay campaign also attended our meeting.
What are the most pressing common issues facing colleagues cave different countries stand?
There is, for example, the high fluctuation of Amazon employees. It is both an expression of the poor working conditions and a handicap for our organization. The mass redundancies in many places, especially after the end of the Christmas business, have become an urgent problem, and we are resisting them. And last but not least, there is the ever-increasing intensification of work due to Amazon’s claim to ship goods around the clock.
What is happening in the US regarding unionization at Amazon, and what is Amazonians United’s approach to this?
We have been building an independent grassroots union in the US since 2019. In addition to Chicago, we are also active in the shipping centers from New York to Sacramento. Our goal is company unions that can act independently of the social partnership-oriented associations – and the approach has so far possibly been successful. In this way you can already achieve a series of actions, work stoppages and rallies. Our union was founded and is run by workers. With us, all decisions about activities and actions are taken by the workers themselves and not by a union apparatus.
Which new approaches and which international activities did the AWI envisage at the meeting?
We want to further expand and strengthen transnational cooperation between active Amazon unions. One thing is clear to us: we can only stand up to a transnational corporation through organized international solidarity. We all come from different political and trade union traditions, operate under different national labor laws – but we are all employed by the same global company and are therefore always looking for unifying actions. Through our cooperation, we also want to set a sign of hope for the entire working class: international cooperation between active trade unionists on an equal footing is necessary – and possible!
We are facing many struggles and want to strengthen our structure through future networking meetings. Specifically, for the coming year we have planned actions to mark the 10th anniversary of the Amazon strikes in Germany and on Black Friday in November, but we also exchanged ideas about the use of organizing methods at Amazon. Our goal is also to strengthen all strikes at national locations through international solidarity actions. Here in Geneva, for example, we held a rally in front of the written consulate in solidarity with the first ever strike at an Amazon plant in the UK, announced by the GMB union on January 25th.