[INAUDIBLE] >> Chris was bringing grilled chicken and
pasta to feed the workers.
>> We had just finished passing out all the food, and then I went outside to talk
to Chris because I saw the general manager talking to him.
>> He approached me, he asked me to leave the premises and I said,
I will leave, I complied.
I said, I'll leave, several minutes later, that's when five or
six black cars pulled up, about 12 police officers jumped out.
Several members of my union, The LU, came out of the cafeteria to my aid, and
the police officers actually started to arrest them before they arrested me.
>> Turns out that Amazon has learned nothing after it's union
busting debacle in Bessemer, Alabama.
In fact, it will likely have to face more legal challenges very soon
since there seems to be some collusion taking place between Amazon and
the New York Police department.
More perfect union has put out a video detailing how union
organizers were swiftly arrested, including Chris Smalls.
Which, I mean,
it really does remind me of what happened in Occupy Wall Street, right?
When Zuccotti Park was cleared out by the NYPD, and the NYPD had just
received a massive donation from JPMorgan Chase, tens of millions of dollars.
And when we talk about policing in this country, it is interesting to see
how fiercely they protect corporations, how fiercely they protect property.
But when it comes to the rights of workers, not so concerned,
the idea of arresting someone for providing food to workers is,
I mean, it tells you everything you need to know about the priorities here.
But this is taking place at JFK8 in Staten Island, and I want to go to more perfect
union video because it just shows you how gross the treatment has been.
And this isn't a unique incident, this isn't a unique case, we're seeing this at
other Amazon warehouses across the country, let's watch.
>> I was the third one to be arrested, and obviously for
no reason they charged me with trespassing.
>> As they were leaving, said, we won, you lost.
So, it's apparent to us that the Staten Island Police
are really the 21st century Pinkerton force for Amazon.
I mean, this is the 3rd time the police have been harassing the organizers.
So, this isn't just like the first time this has occurred.
>> And not only is it not the first time it's occurred,
we see other union busting tactics, other election interference for
union organizers in other states as well, we'll get to those details.
But what happened to Chris Smalls?
Well, he is an Amazon labor union organizer, and
he ended up getting arrested.
As you saw from the video, he was held in a prison cell for more than six hours
after simply delivering food to his fellow organizers, that's it.
I mean, they had to let them go because that's not a crime,
in fact, what Amazon did in essentially getting the NYPD to arrest
these organizers, breaks certain NLRB Rules, labor laws.
And so, of course,
the organizers are now planning to pursue legal action as a result of this.
And it seems like Amazon does think it's above the law, so, for instance,
workers say that the arrests were used to scare intimidate and
punish workers from voting yes on unionization.
A recent national labor relations board ruling actually forced Amazon to agree to
stop this practice of union busting.
In March, the National Labor Relations board sued Amazon against
the company's flagrant unfair labor practices.
In fact, Bessemer, Alabama, which of course made big news,
its warehouse was attempting to unionize, the workers there were
able to secure a re-vote for the union, their initial vote failed.
And part of the reason why they're able to get an opportunity to vote again is
because there was clear evidence of Amazon interfering with their election process.
One of the other ways that they engage in union busting and,
by the way, break labor laws while doing, it is they snatch any type of
union literature in the break rooms and there's evidence of this.
It's been documented, again,
this is JFK8 in Staten Island, let's watch.
>> [INAUDIBLE] He's doing it right in front of the [INAUDIBLE] [LAUGH]
>> [LAUGH] Good job dude.
You really played yourself two times in like 20 minutes.
Good job, Tammy.
>> In another video, Tammy was confronted by one of the workers, and
he was like, hey, you're not allowed to do that.
And she's like, no, I'm not doing anything, I'm not doing anything,
I'm not doing anything at all.
And then you see the video that we just showed you where she's
clearly doing away with the union literature.
And there are other examples for instance, in Bessemer, Alabama, there
were instances of the employers forcing the workers to join in these meetings.
That were just meant to propagandize against the union.
And look, if it's your source of income, if it's your job,
if your livelihood depends on it,
it's not far-fetched to be intimidated by those kinds of meetings, right?
To be scared that if you do vote in favor to unionize, somehow the employers will
find out, somehow, you'll get fired, you'll lose your job.
And then, you're you're risking a lot, so it's really, really important that we
have, officials and the federal government in the NLRB, that do the right thing.
And actually protect the rights of these workers as they're attempting to unionize.
It's one of the positive components of the Biden administration,
obviously, I would like to see more.
But compared to what we saw in Trump's administration,
Biden's NLRB is more willing to jump in and protect the rights of workers.
Especially when their labor rights, and
certain labor laws are being broken by their employers.
So, look, this is an incredibly important, effort in JFKA,
the revote investment Alabama is also very important.
It's one thing to have a small company that unionize, that's also great,
but when we talk about the largest employers in the country.
Having, a unionized workforce means more than just having the ability to change
your immediate work environment.
That's very important, however, you have the power,
and you have baked in organization to essentially apply
pressure on a much higher level, right?
Apply pressure when it comes to government policy, I just think you get far
more bang for your buck, I guess far more bang for your organizing.
If you organize these massive corporations like Amazon,
where they're employing so many Americans.
And to have this organized effort to change their working conditions and
also possibly apply pressure to state and federal government is really,
really important, so I love to see it.
I love that they're undeterred, and you see this labor militancy kind of
rising up that we hadn't seen in this country for literally decades.
I mean unionized workers are a tiny, tiny percentage of workers in this country,
but we're starting to see this very strong effort to change that.
And I love seeing it, especially at places like Amazon.