Biden backs Amazon unions

“Amazon, here we come” were the US president’s words at a trade union national conference. 

A change is gonna come 

A watershed moment for Amazon took place last week. Workers at its Staten Island warehouse voted overwhelmingly to join the Amazon Labor Union, paving the way for further unionization among Amazon warehouse and delivery workers. 

Unsurprisingly, Amazon has been opposing unions among its workforce at every turn. But just like at the top of Forbes’ billionaire list, it looks like Bezos has been beaten. Despite an aggressive campaign to discourage workers, Amazon saw its workforce – and the president of the US – rallying in support of the union. 

Support from the top 

“The choice to join a union belongs to workers alone,” Biden said at the national conference of North America’s Building Trades Unions, in a not-so-subtle dig at Amazon’s anti-union scare tactics. His administration has been hot on empowering the country’s workforce, and with his latest call-out to Amazon, it looks like he won’t be backing down. 

But Amazon won’t take unionization lying down. Back last spring, union efforts in Alabama were stunted by questionable conduct from Amazon, which saw employees being forced to sit through weekly meetings with anti-union presentations. But the workers are the most crucial cog in Amazon’s well-oiled machine – it would be a mistake to underestimate them when they have the support of the White House.