Distinguished Public Service Award: Christian Smalls
Christian Smalls, President of the Amazon Labor Union, was named the recipient of the Public Service Award by graduating Class of 2022. These are his words.
Christian Smalls is an American labor organizer known for his role in leading the Amazon worker organization in Staten Island, New York City.
The Amazon Labor Union is an independent, worker-led, democratic labor union founded by Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York.
The union was formed in April 2021 by a group of concerned workers led by ALU President Christian Smalls, a Process Assistant at JFK8 in Staten Island who was fired by Amazon management for organizing protests over Amazon’s unsafe COVID-19 protocols.
The Amazon Labor Union has grown and won a historic victory in their first election at JFK8, with the support of over 2,500 workers. They have gathered the signed support of thousands more workers, successfully filed for an election at their second site LDJ5, and have recruited over 100 people into the Organizing Committee — they continue to grow stronger and more organized as time goes on.
The ALU first filed for an election with the NLRB in October 2021. Amazon delayed and schemed. In response, they were asked to gather more signatures, which they quickly gathered and submitted, but to their dismay, and following their most recent submission, they were required to gather even more signatures.
As a result, the union had to withdraw its petition temporarily — because Amazon fires employees faster than they can make it with the Labor Union all the way to an election. It’s the company’s sacrificial employment model — “a vast mechanism that hires and monitors, disciplines and fires” — and its complete disregard for the health of workers that sparked the union in the first place, with the firing of Christian Smalls upon his protesting of unsafe work conditions.
They succeeded in filing not one but two election petitions for JFK8 and LDJ5. And then the Amazon Labor Union did what many thought impossible: They defeated Amazon in their first election at JFK8. Now, the Union is running the election campaign at LDJ5, starting the bargaining process for the newly unionized workers at JFK8, and launching their nationwide organizing and training to empower workers to unionize Amazon workplaces across the country.
Remarks
It’s my first time doing this, so I’m actually excited to be here for the class of 2022!
I want to give a message to the graduating class. You guys have the opportunity of a lifetime. This is a window of opportunity for you to venture into the world into your professional field and really change what society is going to look like in the future.
When I was fired from Amazon two years ago, they underestimated me. They tried to smear me — y’all know the story. I won’t take too much of my time up going into the story – hopefully, y’all did your research. I heard I was in a couple of classrooms this semester.
That’s what it’s about — working-class people taking care of one another — and I’m right there with you. I want to be a part of whatever you guys got going. Whatever support I can do to make me continue to fight and go in the right direction. I need the guidance of the younger generation so hats off to you guys cause it’s about y’all. You guys have to take charge and take the reins and we have to follow your lead.
So as you venture into your career, just keep that in mind — that you guys are the ones that are leading this. Not the other way around. As y’all heard me say to Mr. Graham — it’s not a left or a right thing. It’s a working-class thing and we are all a part of that.
So y’all know, once again, I’m an activist first so I know there are some parents in here that may not be on the picket lines all the time but there’s some good energy in this room so I want y’all to look to your left, and look to your right, and say “I got your back!”
And for my people that do be on the picket line, if we don’t get it — shut it down!
Thank you so much! Power to all the people. Solidarity forever.
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