Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

‘It’s an Attack against All Workers’: Fired Amazon Union Organizer Speaks Out

An Amazon worker and union organizer speaks out against his wrongful termination and the need for working people everywhere to organize.

Tristan Lion

May 9, 2022
Facebook Twitter Share
Fired Amazon worker Tristan speaking with Chris smalls and other ALU organizers
Photo: Luigi Morris/ LV

I am Tristan Lion and I have been organizing at Amazon for a union for about a year. I’ve been organizing to fight for job security, better pay, better breaks, and overall to make Amazon a job where  people would like to stay. I was just recently fired because I took up this fight together with hundreds of my coworkers. 

The workers at JFK8 were able to win the first union at an Amazon facility in the country. That victory not only helped me and my coworkers become a more organized force to fight for what we want at the job; it also showed workers around the country that they could win unions for themselves. This win for the workers has clearly been a nightmare for people like Jeff Bezos who profit off exploiting the workforce, just as we are exploited at our facility in Staten Island. Don’t forget: because of our work, Amazon made $33 billion in 2021.

The day Amazon fired me, they had me work almost the whole day then sent me home, telling me not to return. Even when targeting me, they made sure to get every last bit of work out of me that they could.

Ever since we won the union at our facility, Amazon has gone on the offensive against union organizing. We just saw this with the intense union busting campaign at the LDJ5 facility.

We also saw this with the case of Mat, an organizer at the DYY6 in Staten Island who was also fired. The National Labor Relations Board determined recently that Amazon’s anti-union meetings were totally illegal. These firings aren’t about whatever bull their PR team comes up with; they fired us because we were fighting for a union and because Bezos is scared of workers organizing for their rights.

My firing is not only an attack against the ALU. It’s an attack against all workers who are organizing unions everywhere. We see this with Starbucks where organizers are also being fired. Amazon doesn’t even want to recognize the union at JFK8. We cannot let the bosses do what they want and terminate us for trying to improve our working conditions. We cannot let them isolate us and pick us off one by one in the shadows. This fight must be made for all workers who are fighting for unions. They fight alongside me and my union family at the ALU. 

No more retaliation against union organizers!

No more wrongful terminations!

No more union busting!

Facebook Twitter Share

Labor Movement

President Biden giving a speech on Friday, September 15, about the UAW strike. A UAW sign in the background.

Joe Biden Is Afraid of the UAW Strike. That’s a Good Thing.

A few days ago, Biden called on the bosses of the Big Three automakers to give concessions to the striking UAW workers. It’s because he’s scared of the UAW’s power.

Enid Brain

September 20, 2023

To Win, the UAW Strike Must Be Organized from Below

The strike at the Big Three has put the working class at the center of national politics. The autoworkers’ demands are bold and touch on issues of growing exploitation across the country. To win big, the strike must be organized from below.

Tristan Taylor

September 18, 2023

UAW: The Contract Fight of Their Lives 

With ambitious demands on the table and billions of dollars on the line for the Big Three, the UAW contract struggle is shaping up to be one of the most important and unprecedented labor actions in years.

Tristan Taylor

September 14, 2023

The UAW Is Right: All Workers Deserve a Shorter Work Week AND Higher Wages

The current contract struggle at The Big Three and increasing automation in the auto industry raise an important question: How can we use technology to benefit the working class rather than feed the profits of the bosses? 

Luigi Morris

September 14, 2023

MOST RECENT

China’s Rise, ‘Diminished Dependency,’ and Imperialism in Times of World Disorder

In this broad-ranging interview, originally published in LINKS, Trotskyist Fraction member Esteban Mercatante discusses how recent global shifts in processes of capital accumulation have contributed to China’s rise, the new (and old) mechanisms big powers use to plunder the Global South, and its implications for anti-imperialist and working-class struggles today.

Esteban Mercatante

September 22, 2023
Migrants from Northern Africa sit in lines on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Crisis in Lampedusa: Down with Fortress Europe, Open the Borders!

The way out of the immigration crisis is through the struggle against imperialism. This is a declaration from the European organizations of the Trotskyist Fraction - Fourth International.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams stands at a podium.

The Housing Crisis and Migrant Crisis Are Crises of Capitalism

As thousands of people come to the U.S. seeking shelter, politicians around the country are claiming that housing in the U.S. is already in crisis and that there is no room for them. Both the “migrant crisis” and “housing crisis” are crises created and exacerbated by capitalism.

Mike Pappas

September 20, 2023

Germany Is Threatening to Deport Palestinian Refugees for Their Activism

#StandWithZaid: Zaid Abdulnasser, the coordinator of the Palestine solidarity network Samidoun Germany, is a Palestinian refugee from Syria. The German are threatening to revoke his residence permit due to his political activism.

Tom Krüger

September 18, 2023