Something that affects me directly as a tiktoker who has signed this pledge,
I am very happy to cover this.
So there's a group of Tiktokers that are refusing to work with Amazon until
the company meets the demands of their workers and recognizes their union.
Coverage from NBC news reports the union, which current and
former employees formed independently in April of 2021.
Has asked for a variety of changes, including a $30 an hour minimum wage,
better working conditions and
a halt what it alleges are the companies union busting tactics.
We're calling ourselves people over prime,
that's a title that was developed by Gen Z for Change.
You might recognize Gen Z for changes the group that recently raised $2 million for
abortion funds following Matt Gate's color for comments.
, So there's 70 of us Tiktokers with a combined following of 51 million people.
And so this is what Gen Z for change said directly about this campaign.
They said Amazon's widespread mistreatment of their workers and blatant use of
union busting tactics, will no longer be tolerated by the Tiktok community.
The millions of dollars that Amazon poured into Tiktok,
showed just how much they know that Tiktok is powerful.
So if they talk to powerful creators, we can take advantage of that,
reporting from NBC news again, the campaign came to fruition
after the group's success this year aiding another union organizing campaign.
Or other union organizing campaigns at major real retailers like Starbucks and
Kroger, They've done a lot of work supporting the Starbucks employees who
are unionizing across the country.
And from the co founder of the Amazon labor movement on twitter, support for
this campaign on Tiktok, thank you for your support.
Myself and Amazon labor appreciated solidarity.
Christian Smalls also retweeted the story saying that there's a natural alignment
between the Tiktokers organizing the pledge, in the Amazon labor union.
Quote, it's a good fight to take on, because Amazon definitely is afraid of how
we've used Tiktoks or Tiktok during our campaigns.
So, I think this is great.
I am not someone who was ever going to work with Amazon,
let's be real on my Tiktok page.
A lot of these creators are progressive, commentators,
these are people who are talking about politics a lot on their pages.
However, may be the same people who fall,
we'll put some pressure on the influencers who are using the Amazon storefront.
And I think that's really where the power is and
saying we're not gonna work with Amazon until they meet, the workers demands and
recognize the union and stop union busting.
I think it has a lot of power Amazon makes most of their money online and
if they can't influence the folks on Tiktok, hey,
it's the most popular online destination in the world.
There's a lot of power in this.
>> I don't know, just run its course, like usual things like this.
This is obviously as you point out where the Amazon lives, and they know
the power of Tiktok and you talked from the very beginning of this show?
I feel like this has been the theme today, right?
The power or at least the ability to organize at your workplaces.
And, this is just another way that it's available.
Look, we've got this source of information,
we've got this connection online that so many people say and connect with.
And if you enjoy the folks that are there, that these content creators or
anyone that you can exchange ideas and entertainment with, there's that power.
It's just a matter whether or not we're gonna activate it and
then still takes organization.
But at least the information is quicker and easier to get to an organization does
happen and all that's left is threats or all that's left as well.
Maybe this will blow over or, lose your job.
It sucks that's again the process, but I think to begin to see that,
it's not a winning approach or it's no longer winning effort.
Now, the question then, I think comes is where will the middle ground be?
Will there be a folding that comes from this?
Cuz they're definitely gonna pitch, we can't afford this,
we can't take these types of things.
You want us to actually treat workers right?
Give them their rights, maybe have some level of mobility throughout the company.
Anything that it's particularly each one of these types of companies.
But the question is always, do you really want these people, tell us what to do?
Yes, there the workers there, the reasons why you're even able to do what you do.
And the moment that these workers realize and then have to face that scary,
a potential consequence of losing jobs because that's the approach that's
being taken, then we can move on.
But again, we got him trapped in this corner, hope it works.
I didn't know you were part of this as well, but
what 51 million followers combined of all these folks, that's power man?
>> Yeah, just over 70 of us.
And I remember when, Victoria Hammett was a really important organizer.
She, used her following on Tiktok, to get a lot of things done.
And as someone who comes from their traditional organizing,
where you're with a bunch of workers and community members and meetings in person,
talking and knocking doors and making phone calls.
When I started using Tiktok, I was like, wow,
I can reach way more people much faster, this is an organizing tool.
And really things are changing with how we organize in this country and
how many people we can, meet on Tiktok and having the creators.
On the same page about what the mission is and what we can get done,
is extremely powerful to be able to use social media to get information out,
in an unprecedented way.
I think this campaign represents hopefully something that continues and
not something that Tiktok to satisfy their advertisers.
Which is how they make their money decides to quell, because it's very easy for
them to say, hey, if there's any videos where
if we scrape the voice to text record of what's been said in this video.
If people over prime appears at all in the video, let's quell it in the algorithm.
Let's not put that one on the for you page,
they can very easily take action against us to silence us.
So it's gonna be really interesting to see how this plays out and
if we can do something like this again, and if it's successful.
>> We'll see yeah, I mean look, this is where the fight comes.
If you want your rights, we've always seen this country,
the those who have it they're not keen on giving it up, let's put it that way.
So we'll see that fight goes actually.
I was surprised you're part of it and I'm glad that you are, as more people see it,
then that's where the courage comes for this type of movement I like it.
>> You're surprising part of it, Darren,
did you think I was just gonna like something about it.
>> I mean, before we even did this, I didn't know this was a thing.
I'm a bit detached from Tiktok, I'm sorry.
I have seen I like the multiple roles that you do play to play in your in your
economic talks.
It makes people see it in a different light cuz I think people
avoid these types of conversations.
Even as simple as what it may seem like with organized, with union busting.
Not that it's simple to do it, but the idea of doing so,
it's a bit of a foreign thing for a lot of people.
So even when it comes to economics, you have to put it in different terms and
people go yeah.
That makes all the sense in the world,
we just don't give people that access to that kind of information in a way,
that then they feel they're empowered to be a part of it.
That's changing man.
We always talk about it and I hate to call them kids, but like,
young folks are figuring this whole thing out and
they're not gonna continue to go down the same road.
And we see them as little brat, millennials, but actually fighting for
regular folks rights.
>> Yeah, the kids are all right.
The young people are doing well.
So often we hear about places like Amazon even,, Tesla and
Elon Musk, let's talk about Amazon cuz that's what we're focused on right now.
People think, my gosh, I can get something that I want to purchase within two days,
this is a convenience for me.
They're thinking about the business from the perspective of the consumer and
from the perspective of Jeff Bezos who they, many people regard as a genius for
what he's done, Technology, etc.
But really everything he's accomplished has been done on the backs
of the laborers for Amazon.
He could never do what Amazon does by himself, he's not a hero.
And if we think about, what has to go into that package,
getting to your doorstep in two days, people are dying in Amazon warehouses.
They're doing 12 hours of calisthenics every day is the little bit of value
that you get from getting your package early, worth them doing that work.
And that's why there's a crisis in how we talk about economics,
because it's from this perspective of the business and the consumer, not the worker.
But everyone interacts with the economy as a worker every single day.
That's how most of us participate in the economy,
we spend most of our waking hours doing our job.
And so it's about time.
We tell the story of what's going on with economics.
From that perspective, I think there's no good reason we don't teach economics and
public schools, which is why I talk about it on Tiktok because everyone has
a right to know, we all have to live under this economic system.
We have a right to know how it functions.
And it sucks.
We have to do it on Tiktok.
It should be happening in public schools.
But the reason it's not is because they want to keep people thinking about
the economy from the perspective of businesses and not the workers.
Because once people realize what's going on,,
that's when we're really gonna see change happen.