The College Kids Who Unionized Amazon
Christian Smalls (in sunglasses) with three Amazon “salts”—Justine Medina (in red top), Julian Mitchell-Israel (in pink cap), and Madeline Wesley (in blue top)—as they celebrate the April 1, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Staten Island warehouse. (Andrea Renault via Getty Images)
Officially, the activists with degrees don’t exist. Unofficially, the “salts” helped lead the only successful revolt against the world’s most powerful tech giant.
One year ago this month, the American labor movement scored its greatest victory in a generation: Amazon employees in Staten Island voted to organize their warehouse under the Amazon Labor Union (ALU). It was the first—and remains the only—of Amazon’s 110 active U.S. fulfillment centers to unionize.
Workers from the massive JFK8 fulfillment center shoute…
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