"What's Going On" With Unionization In America?

A great American songwriter and singer once wrote "picket lines and picket signs, don't punish me with brutality, talk to me so you can see, what's going on..." –Marvin Gaye, 1971

As has been well publicized in the general media, workers at a large Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York recently voted to unionize. This is the first time a union has won an election at any Amazon facility. On Friday, April 8, 2022, Amazon filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which if successful, could overturn the vote for the union. What has been less widely reported and should be of concern our readers, is that the union that won the election was not one of the mainstream union labor unions. Rather, the victors are an independent union started by two ex-workers at the warehouse. How these two guys pulled it off and what they plan to do next should be carefully studied by any employer worried about union organizing attempts at their company.