A new documentary called “Union” provides an intimate look at the grassroots union campaign that made history at the JFK8 Amazon warehouse on Staten Island where the Amazon Labor Union became the first unionized Amazon facility in America.
The filmmakers Stephen Maing and Brett Story followed the workers’ efforts, led by former ALU President Christian Smalls, from the very genesis of the independent union and offer an inside look at the struggles and persistence of the organizers behind the effort.
The IFC Center hosted a screening of the documentary on Oct. 24 that included a panel discussion with the ALU’s new president Connor Spence and Congressman Jamaal Bowman to discuss the film and state of labor organizing writ large.
Spence, who won a union election to succeed Smalls as its president over the summer, plays a prominent role in the documentary. During the conversation, he explained the group’s decision to undertake an independent union push and where the movement stands now.
“We had to basically create this grassroots struggle from nothing. And I think I would want working class people to understand that is basically the energy that we have to bring to these fights if we want to change society,” Spence said in the discussion.
Much of the film’s runtime captures the blood, sweat and tears of organizing work as its filmmakers embed with the charismatic Smalls and his crew of organizers around a tent that they set up outside the warehouse to grill burgers and provide shelter for workers as they wait for the bus.
Spence said that this move was a staple part of the union’s unorthodox approach to running a union campaign, but one that helped build trust with fellow workers and explains one reason they were successful where union efforts at other Amazon facilities have not been.
“That was my favorite part,” Spence said. “Amazon workers in the middle of the night on their way home, waiting an hour for the bus, they just come out of the darkness and sit at the bus stop where it’s freezing. I could just join these guys by the fire and then you’d form a genuine connection with that person hearing about their life, their struggles. That’s how we did it. Conversation by conversation.”
The film celebrates ALU’s monumental win in 2022, but it also doesn’t stray from delving into the tensions that had built up over the months leading to that point. Scenes depict ALU organizers butting heads over strategy and giving into the interpersonal frustrations that arise when organizers are exhausted by the strain and legal time table of a union election.
It also sets the stage for some of the intra-union struggles that have gripped the nascent union in the years since its initial victory. Spence took his role as president as part of a reform caucus that formed in disagreement with Smalls’ approach to leading the union.
Over two years after the events of the documentary, the union still has a long way to go before bringing Amazon to the bargaining table and securing a contract. At the beginning of October, the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, known for having a more conservative, deregulatory orientation, temporarily halted the National Labor Relations Board from deciding whether Amazon must bargain with the ALU in Staten Island while the district courts weigh a separate Amazon lawsuit that the labor agency violates the U.S. Constitution.
“They’re in federal court arguing that unions are unconstitutional because they’re like, ‘We’re not playing this game. We’re just gonna change the rules.’ So that’s why two years later we’re still in this struggle. They still haven’t come to the table. They would just rather ignore the law,” said Spence.
In spite of the legal challenges, Spence said that the union would continue its local organizing efforts and hoped that the film would help enlist more advocates to the union’s cause.
“We gotta grow that movement and make sure everyone’s involved in this fight,” he said.
