
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 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Ninth Circuit upholds a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration, a federal judge vacates parts of the EEOC’s pregnancy accommodation rules, and video game workers reach a tentative agreement with Microsoft. In a 2-1 decision issued on Friday, the Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration […]
May 30
Trump's tariffs temporarily reinstated after brief nationwide injunction; Louisiana Bill targets payroll deduction of union dues; Colorado Supreme Court to consider a self-defense exception to at-will employment
May 29
AFGE argues termination of collective bargaining agreement violates the union’s First Amendment rights; agricultural workers challenge card check laws; and the California Court of Appeal reaffirms San Francisco city workers’ right to strike.
May 28
A proposal to make the NLRB purely adjudicatory; a work stoppage among court-appointed lawyers in Massachusetts; portable benefits laws gain ground
May 27
a judge extends a pause on the Trump Administration’s mass-layoffs, the Fifth Circuit refuses to enforce an NLRB order, and the Texas Supreme court extends workplace discrimination suits to co-workers.
May 26
Federal court blocks mass firings at Department of Education; EPA deploys new AI tool; Chiquita fires thousands of workers.