Tag Archives: amazon

How Chris Smalls Primed Amazon


(NPR) He’s not smart, or articulate.”

Those were the words used by a top Amazon lawyer to describe former warehouse worker Chris Smalls. 

Smalls had led a walkout at the start of the pandemic in 2020 to protest working conditions at the Staten Island, N.Y., warehouse where he worked. He was fired the same day.

The memo that contained those biting words was leaked just a few days later. But the words would stay with Smalls. They became the fuel that would drive him to lead one of the most dramatic and successful grassroots union drives in recent history.

“When I read that memo, that motivated me to start an organization,” said Smalls, celebrating the historic victory of the Amazon Labor Union on Friday, making the warehouse Amazon’s first unionized workplace in the U.S.

Friday’s triumph would come almost two years to the day of his firing.

At the time, Amazon said Smalls had violated quarantine and safety measures. But Smalls said he was fired in retaliation for his activism. The New York attorney general followed with an investigation and suedAmazon for the incident and even sought to get Smalls his job back.Sponsor Message

Smalls didn’t sit still after being fired, and formed the Amazon Labor Union soon after. 

Meetings at a bus stop, barbecue and funding through GoFundMe

Smalls had zero union background, nor did he rely on any established labor groups for funding and organizing power. 

Instead he raised money for the operation through GoFundMe. Smalls and his co-founder Derrick Palmer — who’s still working at the warehouse — reached out to their coworkers. 

The bus stop used by workers became their gathering place. They’d wait there to talk to workers who were heading home from their shifts. They’d have a bonfire going, with s’mores, and get people talking. They invited workers to cookouts.

“We had over 20 some barbecues, giving out food every single week, every single day, whether it was pizza, chicken, pasta,” Smalls said. He even brought home-cooked food from his aunt to some of these gatherings.

They talked to workers about fighting for their rights,about the grueling toll of the job, how you’re on your feet, doing very repetitive, very physically demanding work, for hours. About the breaks that are few and too short. 

No one expected this scrappy grassroots campaign to emerge victorious against the behemoth company. Indeed, a first attempt failed. But Smalls persevered, eventually meeting the 30% threshold necessary to hold a vote.

Amazon got Smalls arrested for trespassing

Amazon, meanwhile, spent millions of dollars on labor consultants to fight the union campaigns. The company held mandatory meetings with workers in the warehouse, urging them to vote No. 

Amazon even had Smalls and a couple other organizers arrested for trespassing while they were delivering food and union materials to the warehouse parking lot earlier this year.

Amazon’s argument to workers is that it is already a great place to work, without a union. It offers competitive pay, and generous benefits like health care coverage for full time employees and full tuition for college. 

But Smalls’ efforts clearly bore fruit.

Almost 5,000 workers cast their ballots and the votes to form a union were won by a significant margin — more than 500 votes.

Amazon had wanted to belittle the union drive two years ago, when as part of its PR strategy the company said it would make Smalls “the face of the entire union/organizing movement.”

And that’s exactly what happened. Except today, Smalls has become the face of one of the most successful union drives in recent history.

And Amazon has suffered an embarrassing defeat.

“Amazon doesn’t become Amazon without the people,” Smalls said. “And we make Amazon what it is.”

Dibs on his movie rights. That’s how it works, isn’t it?

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is on Fire

Image result for amazon rainforest fire

Lemme get this straight.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was offered $20 million in international aid to help battle the Amazon rainforest inferno following the G-7 summit, but is refusing to take the money until French President Emmanuel Macron apologizes for what Macron said about Bolsonaro’s Facebook comment?

That’s it, I’m turning the car around. And your internet privileges are suspended.

Bolsonaro was apparently offended by Macron’s comments related to his handling of the unfolding crisis in the Amazon, and wanted them retracted.

“And then we can speak,” the Brazilian dimwit said.

In truth, though,  the dispute isn’t about authority, or expenditures, or detente, but something middle-school-petty. The Brazilian leader’s demand for an apology followed Macron lashing out after a Bolsonaro supporter — a supporter! — mocked Macron’s wife, Brigitte, in a Facebook post, comparing her to Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle, and suggesting Macron was jealous.Image result for Jair Bolsonaro wife

Bolsonaro commented on the post in Portuguese, “don’t humiliate the guy … haha,” leading Macron to respond during the Group of Seven summit on Monday that the comment was “very disrespectful.”

“He said very disrespectful things about my wife. I have great respect for the Brazilian people and can only hope they soon have a president who is up to the job,” Macron said.

What the…? What is going on with our world leaders? This little tiff follows Donald Trump’s umbrage at being turned down in his offer to buy Greenland from Denmark. Danish leaders reminded him that they don’t own Greenland — Greenland does — and called the offer absurd. Blimpie immediately canceled his trip to Denmark, which I’m sure has left the Danes inconsolable. Who will Danish political cartoonists lampoon now?

But apparently, you can spin a globe, cover your eyes, and land on a country led by a buffoon.

Imagine this scenario for a moment, because political leaders certainly haven’t. Imagine you know someone who has run into money trouble and cannot pay the mortgage, or rent, or car note. You open your checkbook and offer him money — with no demand for repayment. But in opening your checkbook, you mumble something that offends the broke sumbitch. And he tells you, “I’m not going to cash this check until your apologize.”

You’d likely tell the loafer to go to hell, close the checkbook and walk away. And that’s what the Gang of Seven  should have done collectively. Don’t need the $20 million? I’m sure there are countless hungry and thirsty nations that do. Cross out Brazil’s name and scribble in South Sudan, where residents make an average of $246 a year, according to Reuters.

More importantly, it’s time for our planet’s leaders to start acting like goddamn adults. When did Facebook and Twitter become so vital to their management of nations? You going to nuke a nation that touches your side of the backseat?

To Emmanuel: Come on, Frenchie. You were supposed to be the reasonable one at the G-7, the one who recognized issues like climate change, nuclear proliferation, global terrorism. And you’re acting like someone stole your binky. All over a comment about a comment on Facebook? You don’t need to unfriend Bolsonaro; you need to unplug your computer.

To Jair: I’m not sure what the Portuguese word for douchebag is, but you are one. Maybe you don’t need $20 million in aid. But your people do. They’re choking on ash, and you’re yukking it up with a troll? If your people take a cue from the people of Hong Kong, your ass will fry like your rainforest.Image result for hong kong protesters fight back

I never thought I’d have to say this to anyone but our globular president, but apparently this message can be translated into innumerable languages, for innumerable heads of state:

Grow the fuck up.

 

You Kiss Your Mother with That Mouth, HAL?

 

Amazon is going to revoke my membership for sure.

First, I wrote to Jeff Bezos asking him why his Amazon logo looks like an erect penis, arching toward a vaginal “O” (I still await a response, Jeff).

Then I attempted to play provocateur on the Amazon website, which featured an absurd webcam that tosses a treat to your dog for, well, I’m not really sure. Maybe for not eating the cat? In the customer forum, I asked whether it was urine-proof. I got a half dozen earnest replies and the inevitable snarky one from a customer who said her dogs didn’t urinate on unintended targets. My response was “Oh, I don’t have a dog.”

Last week, in a self-published book that just hit shelves (order now, only 4.5 billion remaining!), I wrote a review in the customer feedback section (how is the writer allowed to review his/her own book?). Inspired by the president’s past of playing an anonymous publicist to promote himself, I gave the book a five star review and quoted a certain DJT as saying “Perhaps the greatest book since the Bible. It has the best words. Everyone says so.”

I know I shouldn’t press my luck, but I have another question for Jeff: Why is Alexa so stingy with compliments, while Google Home is so positive?

I discovered this quite by accident, as I was rushing to get ready for dinner. As I grabbed a jacket from the office, I decided to ask Alexa how I looked. The response was tepid, if not a passive-aggressive criticism.

After an awkward pause, this is what she said: “I’m sure you look just great.”

THAT’s the best you could do, Alexa? Not even a little white lie for courtesy’s sake? Why not just say “You look like you won that shirt at a state fair carnival.”

Mildly insulted, I sought a second opinion: the Google Home Mini I keep on the office desk, right next to the Alexa Dot. I asked it the same question, How do I look?

“Magnificent,” Google replied with nary a hesitation.

Now I was intrigued. I asked each about the other. Of her rival, Google said “Alexa has such a soothing voice. I like it.” Ask it again, you’ll get similar compliments. Once, she said, “I like I like Alexa’s cool blue light. Plus, we share an affinity for Star Wars.”

Ask Alexa if she knows Google Home, and you’ll get a curt “Only by reputation” in response.

It was an amusing test of A.I. etiquette. But that must have been an intense debate among software engineers at Amazon and Google; how friendly do you make Artificial Intelligence? How sarcastic, how sexual, how soothing? Repeat the “how do I look” question, and you’ll get the same difference in tenor. When Google finally told me I looked “ravishing,” I ended the experiment. I didn’t want to lead her on.

But it underscores what must be a real conundrum for designers. Google has clearly chosen the tack of a cyber Tony Robbins: supportive, positive, downright cheery. Amazon made Alexa  a cyber Miss Manners, with all P’s and Q’s properly attended and all opinion straight down the non-controversial middle of the road.

Which is better is impossible to say, but this is not: Google is more daring, hands-down. When I asked Alexa “How should I end this story?”,  it gave an “I don’t understand” error beep and shut down (which, I guess, is how a lot people end their stories).

When I asked Google the same question, I got an entirely different answer:

“Don’t be afraid to write, rewrite and rewrite again until your ending sounds natural, satisfactory and complete. The end.”

Wow, thank you A.I. You look magnificent, too.

The end.