Despite her claims to promote labour unions, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez received no recognition or gratitude following the union’s victory.
The amazing victory of the Amazon Labor Union in Staten Island is making news across the United States for all the right reasons. While the movement leader Christian Smalls and his colleagues have received widespread praise for their triumph, there is one person for whom they have not expressed gratitude, and that is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, despite her claims to support the labour movement. Smalls is alleged to have declared after the victory that AOC “doesn’t deserve this moment.”
According to reports, there are a number of factors contributing to this. A contributing factor to the apparent divide between the progressive Democrat and the union is that she allegedly left workers “high and dry” by failing to show up for them at last year’s August protest in favour of them before the union’s election, according to reports. When political pundit Krystal Ball called AOC out for abandoning the employees at the march outside the JFK8 Amazon fulfilment centre a few days ago, the activist fired back, all the while defending herself.
The achievement being celebrated is that a majority of Staten Island employees voted last week for union representation, despite the company’s efforts to avoid unionisation. This is the first successful union organising drive in the company’s history in the United States. The historic vote resulted in a union victory of 2,654 to 2,131 against. Former and present Amazon employees, rather than AOC, are being credited with the stunning victory achieved by the grassroots campaign. “The warehouse is not in my area, and perhaps you should consult a map before making such a claim,” the 32-year-old responded. Other reasons for not showing up included scheduling issues and security concerns, which she explained in detail. “With the exception of a schedule issue, we have sought oversight investigations into Amazon, met with Amazon employees at the Woodside warehouses, and done a lot more,” the AOC stated. In the future, please conduct yourself with greater caution.” “Security was a concern as well,” he continued. My life faced a number of high-level risks in 2021, which limited the activities I was able to participate in, particularly those that required me to be outside. As a result of this, as well as our ability to obtain resources and time to acquire them, scheduling and logistical issues arise.”
On December 8, 2021, in Washington, DC, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks during a press conference at the United States Capitol Building.
Journalist Jordan Chariton, however, raised the issue, stating, “With all due respect, there are no security problems with sending out support to @amazonlabor in their attempt to win the first unionised Amazon to 13 million followers.” “Your ability to speak up and organise makes a difference. ” The following is another Smalls comment: “Smh @AOC that’s bad workers from your district undoubtedly commute to Staten Island.” Maybe you should perform your due [sic] diligence after all, because I personally know them.”
During a news conference to promote legislation that would strengthen Social Security benefits on Capitol Hill on October 26, 2021 in Washington, DC, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is heard speaking.
In addition, according to Nicole Gelinas of The New York Post, “Amazon’s starting wage in New York City is already $18 an hour, $3 more than the city’s legal minimum wage.” Auto and other industrial workers who are represented by labour unions have historically enjoyed greater retirement benefits than the majority of private-sector employees (although they lost some in the 2008 financial crisis). All of this causes a great deal of tension between Amazon (and Starbucks) employees who are organising unions and AOC types who claim to be champions of workers’ rights.”
A speech by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th congressional district, was given on November 9, 2021, at the US Climate Action Centre during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.
As Gelinas highlighted in her essay for The Washington Post, the AOC wants individuals to rely on the government for all their benefits, whereas Smalls and his colleagues want to wring even better benefits from their businesses. In their labour agenda, AOC and fellow Democratic Socialists claim to support labour unions, but much of what they propose would render labour unions obsolete,” he continued, 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.’ There is no longer a need for a union because of ‘union salaries and benefits.'”