NYC★ WORKS
Organized labor divided after
Amazon pulls out of Queens
COURIER L PS IFE, FEB. 22–28, 2019 47
BY BILL PARRY
Unions representing
thousands of workers across
the city were split early on
about Amazon’s plan for
Long Island City — but were
united in lament after the
retail giant derailed their
proposal last week.
When Amazon’s antiunion
policies were exposed
during a City Council
oversight committee hearing
last month when a company
executive, Brian Huseman,
told City Councilman
Jimmy Van Bramer that he
could not support labor neutrality
for workers in Long
Island City, the gallery exploded
in protest.
But outside City Hall that
day, construction workers
and labor unions rallied in
support of the deal that the
state and city struck with
Amazon to build its HQ2
campus at Anable Basin
and create 25,000 well-paying
jobs over 10 years, with
a plan to grow to 40,000 over
15 years.
Local 32BJ of the Service
Employees International
Union had carved out a position
that Amazon, which
doesn’t have a single unionized
facility anywhere is the
country, might adopt a more
labor neutral posture once
it was established in progressive
and pro-union New
York City.
“Amazon’s new headquarters
will be a model for how
organized labor can power
the next generation of U.S.
companies to greater success,”
32BJ SEIU Political
Director Alison Hirsh said
during the rally. “These new
jobs and significant neighborhood
commitments will
help uplift Queens families
and the city as a whole.”
32BJ SEIU had already
secured a commitment from
Amazon that would have
created thousands of permanent
jobs and good wages for
cleaners and security guards
at the proposed HQ2 campus
in Long Island City and its
leader, Hector Figueroa, who
had organized thousands
of airport workers during a
years-long campaign right
here in Queens.
Figueroa figured he
could do the same with Amazon’s
headquarters in Long
Island City.
The day before Amazon
walked away from the project,
four of its executives, including
Huseman, met with
organized labor leaders in
Governor Cuomo’s Manhattan
offices where they
worked out a framework for
a deal.
Stuart Appelbaum, the
president of the powerful
Retail, Wholesale and Department
Store Union, had
been a fierce opponent of
Amazon was present along
with the regional chapter of
the Teamsters and New York
State’s AFL-CIO. Appelbaum
later said he was “amazed”
that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos
cancelled the HQ2 project.
“Rather than addressing
the legitimate concerns that
have been raised by many
New Yorkers Amazon says
you do it our way or not at
all, we will not even consider
the concerns of New
Yorkers,” RWDSU Director
of Communications Chelsea
Connor said. “That’s
not what a responsible
business would do.”
When the deal collapsed,
Figueroa lamented the
loss of so many union jobs,
and the potential for so
much more.
“The news that Amazon
has decided to cancel
its plans to build its second
headquarters in New York
City is a disappointing development
for working people
in our city,” Figueroa
said. “This is a lost oppor-
CELEBRATING LABOR IN THE BIG APPLE
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