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Amazon's first union is path breaking but there's one person they're NOT thanking

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez despite her claim to support the union received no credit or thanks after the union win

Amazon Labor Union’s spectacular victory in Staten Island is making headlines for all the right reasons across the US. The movement leader Christian Smalls and his allies have been hailed widely for their victory but there is one person they are not thanking and she is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, popularly known as AOC, despite her claim to support the union. Just after the win, Smalls reportedly said AOC “doesn’t deserve this moment.”

The reason behind this is reportedly not one but many. One of the causes of the apparent rift between the progressive Democrat and the union is that she allegedly left workers “high and dry” by failing to stand by them at last year’s August rally in support of them before the union vote. After being called out by political commentator Krystal Ball a few days ago for ditching the workers at the rally outside the JFK8 Amazon fulfillment center, AOC hit back while defending herself.

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The victory being talked about is that majority of the employees in Staten Island voted last week for union representation despite the company’s union avoidance tactics, marking the first successful US organizing effort in the company’s history. The historic vote was 2,654 for the union to 2,131 against. The stunning win for the grassroots campaign is being attributed to former and current Amazon employees and not AOC. The 32-year-old said: “The warehouse isn’t in my district and maybe you should look at a map before claiming so.” She also cited both scheduling conflicts and security concerns as the reasons for not showing up. AOC said, “One scheduling conflict aside, we have requested oversight investigations into Amazon, met with Amazon workers in the Woodside warehouses, and more. Hope you do more due diligence next time,” before adding: “Security was an issue as well. 2021 included a lot of high level threats on my life, which limited what activities I was able to do, especially those outside. The combination of that + when we are able to get resources/time to secure them creates scheduling + logistical conflicts.”

But then journalist Jordan Chariton had pointed saying, “With respect, there's no security concerns with sending out support to @amazonlabor trying to win the first unionized Amazon to 13 million followers. Your voice and organizing power makes a difference.” Smalls also added, “Smh @AOC that’s terrible workers from your district definitely commute to Staten Island I know them personally maybe you should do your do [sic] diligence.”

Another reported reason behind the falling out is, as stated by Nicole Gelinas for The New York Post, “Amazon’s starting wage in New York City is already $18 an hour, $3 above the city’s legal minimum. Unionized auto and other industrial workers have long enjoyed better retirement benefits than most private-sector workers (although they lost some in the 2008 financial crisis). This all creates a huge tension between Amazon (and Starbucks) workers creating unions and AOC types who claim to stick up for workers’ rights.”

In her piece for The Post, Gelinas further explained that “AOC wants people to look to the government for all their benefits, whereas Smalls and fellow organizers want to extract even better benefits from their employers. AOC and fellow Democratic Socialists claim to support unions, but much of their labor agenda consists of universal benefits that would make labor unions obsolete,” before adding: “The most obvious one, from the DSA’s platform: to ‘guarantee a job with union wages and benefits to everyone who wants one by creating millions of public sector jobs.’ With ‘union wages and benefits,’ there is no need for a union.”