Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

#ReHireChrisSmalls, Amazon Worker Fired for Organizing Walkout

On Monday, March 30, Chris Smalls helped organize and lead 50 workers in a walkout at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York. Workers took action because the company is failing to protect them. One of their coworkers tested positive for the coronavirus the week before; the company claims this is the only case, […]

Left Voice

March 31, 2020
Facebook Twitter Share

On Monday, March 30, Chris Smalls helped organize and lead 50 workers in a walkout at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York. Workers took action because the company is failing to protect them. One of their coworkers tested positive for the coronavirus the week before; the company claims this is the only case, but workers say there have been at least 10 and that management has failed to notify them or properly clean the warehouse. They aren’t being given PPE and there isn’t social distancing inside the warehouse.

Amazon workers walk out

Voices from the Amazon Strike: Today in Staten Island, Amazon workers walked out demanding the shut down of the warehouse.

Posted by Left Voice on Monday, March 30, 2020

Left Voice spoke to Chris Smalls at the walkout yesterday.

The walkout organized by Smalls garnered a great deal of media attention. The Amazon warehouse joined workers mobilizing for protections all over the country, like those at Whole Foods, as well as Pittsburgh garbage workers and others. 

Later on Monday, the company fired Smalls for “violating social distancing guidelines and refusing to remain quarantined …” It’s a particularly striking indictment of how capitalism truly functions when a worker is fired for the very thing he’s fighting against. There is no limit to the bosses’ contempt for the rest of us. 

Workers in the logistics sector — from Amazon to Instacart — are under assault not only from COVID-19 but also from companies that put profits before human needs. These workers are serving a vital role as many people cope with the pandemic by staying at home. Healthcare workers are only part of the “front line” against the outbreak. Logistics workers are another part. They’re delivering vitally needed food and other items to homes around the country.

Their companies are putting them at unique risk. These workers cannot work from home. Most of them are either gig workers or paid very low wages. Missing work means not being able to sustain themselves. They work in crowded fulfillment centers with thousands of others. Critically important protective supplies such as hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes are rationed or unavailable. As the Verge recently reported, “Workers at 19 warehouses have tested positive for COVID-19, according to local news reports. So far, Amazon has closed facilities only when forced to do so by government order or worker protest.”

Chris Smalls and all other workers fired under similar circumstances must be rehired immediately. Firing Smalls is a warning to Amazon specifically, but it’s also a threat to all other sectors of workers: If they choose to fight, they’ll be fired. 

But the rest of us won’t stand idly by either. Everyone who shops at Amazon should demand Amazon to #ReHireChrisSmalls. Unions and other sectors of workers must take up this demand as well. 

But given the scale of the crisis, we need more.  We need these logistics workers to be able to continue working — as long as they are willing to, regardless of what the bosses say. And they need to be working safely: with protective gear, with social distancing, with hazard pay.

Already, the bosses have shown that they can’t guarantee even the most basic safety measures for workers. So, workers need to take our safety in our own hands: take the warehouses from Amazon, and the grocery stores from the big companies, and put workers in charge of everything — not just the work itself, but also emergency measures to ensure health and safety of workers and customers alike. If that means shutting down a warehouse to give it a thorough cleaning before reopening under workers’ control with new safety protocols, so be it. No doubt, the great majority of people will gladly wait a few extra days for shipments if it means other human beings will be safe.

Meanwhile, whether Amazon workers have been fired, laid off, or are still working, their wages must be paid in full. In fact, they must be given immediate wage increases as hazard pay. And those who decide to stay home must be paid in full, too. There’s plenty of money in Jeff Bezos’s personal bank account to cover that!

As Chris Smalls said when speaking to Left Voice yesterday, “Stand up. Don’t be afraid. We the power. This building cannot work without us.” In fact, nothing can work without us, the working class.

Worker’s voices from the Amazon walk out

“These people are working in fear. They only confirmed one case, there are at least 10 in here. There is no social distancing going on. People are packed on top of each other. Close this building now and pay us for every day that its closed. Close this building down, get it clean.”

Posted by Left Voice on Monday, March 30, 2020

Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice

Militant journalism, revolutionary politics.

United States

The Deadliest Year for U.S.-Mexico Border Crossings Occurred during Biden’s Administration

The humanitarian crisis at the border was created by capitalism. Voting for a lesser evil won’t save the Latin American working class; it will take international, political and strategic solidarity across borders to build a combative immigrants’ rights movement.

Paul Ginestá

September 28, 2023

Scabs Will Not Pass: Defend the UAW Strike With Organized Grassroots Power

The Big Three are escalating their use of scabs. The rank and file are fighting back.

Jason Koslowski

September 27, 2023
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

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

MOST RECENT

The Big Three Are Using Layoffs to Punish the UAW and Undermine the Strike

The Big Three are retaliating against the UAW by laying off thousands of its members at plants across the country. Defeating these attacks will require the self organization and mobilization of all the workers.

James Dennis Hoff

September 28, 2023
President Biden visits striking UAW workers in Michigan.

Biden’s Picket Line Visit Doesn’t Mean He Is On Our Side

President Biden’s visit to the UAW picket line shows the strength of the strike — and why it should remain independent from him and the Democrats.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

September 27, 2023

Toward a Revolutionary Socialist Network

In this article Warren Montag and Joseph Serrano respond to our call for a network for a working-class party for socialism. 

Warren Montag

September 27, 2023

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