May 1 is International Workers' Day (also known as May Day). Amazon Labor Union and Starbucks Workers United are asking communities, friends and allies to come together this May Day and be united against union-busting.

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What's union-busting, why is it a problem and why has Amazon been doing it?

Union-busting is the name given to a range of activities undertaken to disrupt or prevent the formation or growth of trade unions in a workplace. Union busting tactics can refer to both legal and illegal activities, and can range anywhere from subtle to violent.

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With recent attempts by Amazon workers to unionize, Amazon have recently been stepping up their union-busting activities. As summarised in a March 2022 Vice article, "it has hired professional union avoidance consultants to lead mandatory meetings, where workers have been told they could lose their current wages if they unionize. It has called the New York Police Department on a union organizer distributing lunch to workers, who was subsequently arrested. It has posted anti-union messages in bathroom stalls and hallways." It's also been "bombarding workers with flyers, mailers, Instagram ads, Facebook posts, brochures, videos, phone calls, posters, mandatory meetings, a website, text messages, and notifications on Amazon’s AtoZ app, the platform its workers use for scheduling."

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Most of this stuff is legal, but highly disingenuous, as it's a propaganda campaign designed to convince workers that it's unions - and not Amazon's unsafe, unfair working conditions - that are the real threat to workers' wellbeing.

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However they've also been accused of illegal union-busting activity in recent times too. In 2021 the National Labor Relations Board determined that Amazon violated labor law in the leadup to a union vote in its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse facility. More recently the NLRB issued a complaint against Amazon alleging that the company repeatedly broke the law by threatening, surveilling, and interrogating their Staten Island warehouse workers engaged in a union organizing campaign.

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Union-busting is an attempt to bombard workers with messages that make them doubtful of the value of unions, and fearful of what will happen to their jobs if they vote to unionize. It's a sign of desperation because Amazon management know that unionized workplaces will be better equipped to combat attempts to exploit their workers.

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Ok, I'm in. What do I need to do?

It's pretty simple: just make sure that on May 1 you're making it known that you stand for workers' rights to form unions in their workplaces. As an author you probably have an audience of people following you on social media, through newsletters, or through other networks. When your fans see you posting in support of Amazon workers and in opposition to union-busting, you're helping to share that message more widely to people who might otherwise not see it.

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You can share in any way that feels right to you. You could:

• Share posts/tweets from Amazon Labor Union or a whole range of other worker-related organisations.

• Write a post of your own sharing why you want to support workers' rights to unionize.

• Download and share any or all of the social media tiles below. (Click here for a link to the images you can download from canva.com or just copy them below), or you can do something of your own.

 

Whatever works for you. And if you see others sharing similar content make sure you like it and boost it.