Vice President Kamala Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh held a roundtable discussion with a group of grassroots worker organizers on Thursday to discuss their efforts to organize unions in their workplaces. Chris Smalls, the former Amazon employee who said he was fired after he staged a protest against the company, was among those who met with the White House officials.
As Blavity previously reported, Smalls said the workers were demanding the Staten Island Amazon facility in New York to implement safety precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Smalls, who worked as a management assistant, said he was fired after leading a protest with about 50 coworkers.
“We’re here today to inspire — to send the message to workers around the country that it’s possible to stand up for your rights. We can do it together and I look forward to continuing discussions with the Biden-Harris Administration,” Smalls said in a statement shared with Blavity.
Other advocates who attended the meeting on Thursday included Laura Garza of Starbucks Workers United, Alex Speidel of United Paizo Workers and Communications Workers of America, Rachel Gitlevich of Titmouse, Inc., and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Jaimie Caldwell of the Baltimore Public Library and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and Damien Sowell of REI, the United Food & Commercial Workers International Union and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
The Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, the committee chaired by Harris and Walsh, led the roundtable discussion. President Joe Biden also stopped by at the meeting to thank the workers for their leadership in organizing unions.
The workers discussed their concerns, particularly in regard to fair pay, paid leave and health care benefits. Additionally, the union leaders said the employers have been applying antiunion tactics.
Harris and Walsh showed support for the workers, saying the Biden-Harris administration is the most pro-union administration in history and “worker power is at the core of this administration’s economic vision to rebuild the economy from the bottom up and middle out.”
Biden issued an executive order on April 26, 2021, to establish the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment.
The task force’s charge is to “identify executive branch policies, practices, and programs that could be used, consistent with applicable law, to promote my Administration’s policy of support for worker power, worker organizing, and collective bargaining.”
The task force’s report, released in February, includes about 70 recommendations to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining for federal employees, as well as for workers employed by public and private-sector employers.
