
Rund Khayyat is a student at Harvard Law School.
As the Amazon labor union movement comes to a head in Alabama, the New Yorker published a column Thursday analyzing, what it describes, the “changing politics of labor.” The article notes that Amazon represents “an extreme expression of the twenty-first century’s extreme inequality and concentration of wealth and economic power, which has already changed the Democratic Party and some elements of the G.O.P.,” and has thus drawn together some unusual allies on both sides of the aisle.
In response to the Amazon union drive, the usual labor allies, such as Stacie Abrams, Bernie Sanders, and President Biden, have been extraordinarily outspoken. For example, Biden announced his support for the organizers and strongly warned employers not to interfere with the efforts – the last president to use such explicit language in support of unions was President Roosevelt.
At the same time, new prominent players on the right are denouncing Amazon’s business practices and supporting the labor efforts. Those on the center-right are not only concerned over Bezos’s “accelerating wealth and Amazon’s profiteering,” but also about the company’s interventions in politics, which tend to be interventions that align with the interests of Democrats (such as its decisions to stop hosting Parler, the extremist social-media site, on Amazon Web Services).
For example, conservative senator Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) notably published an op-ed in USA Today declaring his support for the workers, and both Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, and conservative Senator Josh Hawley’s (R-Miss.) new book titled “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” have targeted Bezos’ practices.
Still, conservatives are still skeptical of labor unions, and so the outspoken language by Democrats is more significant to labor leaders than the newfound allies on the right. Still, because so many of Amazon’s practices and successes are rooted in its power over workers, conservatives who oppose Amazon must do more to support worker power.
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June 20
Three state bills challenge Garmon preemption; Wisconsin passes a bill establishing portable benefits for gig workers; and a sharp increase in workplace ICE raids contribute to a nationwide labor shortage.
June 19
Report finds retaliatory action by UAW President; Senators question Trump's EEOC pick; California considers new bill to address federal labor law failures.
June 18
Companies dispute NLRB regional directors' authority to make rulings while the Board lacks a quorum; the Department of Justice loses 4,500 employees to the Trump Administration's buyout offers; and a judge dismisses Columbia faculty's lawsuit over the institution's funding cuts.
June 17
NLRB finds a reporter's online criticism of the Washington Post was not protected activity under federal labor law; top union leaders leave the Democratic National Committee amid internal strife; Uber reaches a labor peace agreement with Chicago drivers.
June 16
California considers bill requiring human operators inside autonomous delivery vehicles; Eighth Circuit considers challenge to Minnesota misclassification law and whether "having a family to support" is a gendered comment.
June 15
ICE holds back on some work site raids as unions mobilize; a Maryland judge approves a $400M settlement for poultry processing workers in an antitrust case; and an OMB directive pushes federal agencies to use union PLAs.