His mission: To convince the workers to
form a union.
The e-commerce behemoth, one of the biggest
employers in the United States, so far has kept itself union-free in its home
market.
But Amazon faces imminent votes at three US
facilities that could establish a union toehold, something labour experts think
could spur on campaigns at other venues.
At JFK8, in the city's Staten Island
borough, 5,000 workers will be able to cast their ballots on the union bid from
March 25 to 30, and the counting is scheduled to commence on March 31.
A vote at a second Staten Island venue, a
sorting centre employing 1,500 people, is scheduled to begin April 25.
In the southern state of Alabama, more than
6,000 workers at a warehouse in Bessemer have another opportunity to form a
union. They have until March 25 to vote by mail, and the counting there will
start March 28 and could take up to two weeks.
A large majority of workers at the Bessemer
facility last year voted against unionising, but US labour officials overseeing
the process threw out the result, citing "interference" by Amazon.
Need for change
Smalls, 33, was fired in March 2020 just
after organising a protest for personal protective equipment amid the surge of
the first major Covid-19 outbreak in New York.
Rather than go away quietly, Smalls spoke
out about his experience and continued to clamour for more support for
essential workers.
Shortly after the first vote in Bessemer,
Smalls together with current and former Amazon workers created the Amazon
Labour Union.
"I know I am on the right side of this
fight," Smalls told AFP earlier this month during a phone-banking event at
which about 20 volunteers gathered to call employees one-by-one in order to
tout the potential of a union to boost wages, working conditions, benefits and
job security.
Isaiah Thomas, 20, who is working at
Bessemer in order to finance his studies, is using essentially the same
arguments to convince his fellow Amazon workers.
After last year's setback, the Retail,
Wholesale, and Department Store Union, which backs the Alabama campaign, has
redoubled its efforts to speak with workers, going door-to-door and during
breaks.
"The moment that I stepped through the
doors on my first day on the job, I realized that we needed to have change at
Amazon," said Thomas, who pointed to safety hazards, unreasonable
workloads over a long day and limited break times.
Thomas joined the effort following outreach
from union supporters.
Before then, "I didn't really know how
a union operated," he said.
Uphill fight
Amazon has adopted a similar approach in
both New York and Alabama, discouraging the workers from supporting unions at
mandatory meetings, and through signs and other literature at the work site.
The company argues that forming a union
will mar the company's direct relationship with workers and represent a jump
into the unknown, with no guarantee workers will wind up with better wages or
job security.
"Our employees have the choice of
whether or not to join a union," said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel.
"As a company, we don't think unions are the best answer for our
employees.
"Our focus remains on working directly
with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work."
Nantel touted company benefits that include
health care and financing college tuition after three months of work. The
company also pays competitively, including at Bessemer, where the $15.80
an-hour floor is more than twice the federal minimum wage.
Ruth Milkman, a sociologist of labour
movements at City University of New York, said US labour law stacks the odds in
favour of the company, so a union win would be significant.
"If either of these campaigns at
Amazon were to be successful, it would be huge and that would be very inspiring
to other people working at Amazon," Milkman said.
However, "I'm not optimistic,"
she said, noting that the New York campaign is not affiliated with an
established union that could commit financial resources to support the effort
to organise.
In Bessemer, meanwhile, workers have few
alternatives in terms of jobs that pay as well as Amazon.
"You can be intimidated by employer
propaganda," Milkman said, adding that workers will "think
twice" about rocking the boat.