The union spent only $120,000 raised on GoFundMe, according to Smalls. Last year, Amazon spent more than $4.3 million on anti-union consultants nationwide, only a part of the total cost of its anti-union campaign, which included fliers, banners, Instagram and Facebook ads, mailers, brochures, text messages, videos, and legal representation from several of the nation’s leading anti-union law firms.Do you have a tip to share with us? Please get in touch with the reporter Lauren Gurley via email Lauren.gurley@vice.com or securely on Signal 201-897-2109.
Chris Smalls leads a protest and walkout over conditions at the company's Staten Island distribution facility on March 30, 2020 in New York City. Image: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Pandemic heroes, struggling to live
Karen Ponce. Image: Pieter Colpaert
Workers queue to cast their vote to unionize, outside an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island on March 25, 2022. - Under hazy skies and in the calm of morning, workers waited patiently in line outside the JFK8 warehouse Friday for a say on whether to establish Amazon's first US labor union. Image: ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)
How Amazon’s anti-union strategy backfired
At a party celebrating the ALU's victory, Chris Smalls's younger brother Demetris gifts him a framed early sign Chris made when first protesting covid conditions at JFK8. Image: Lauren Kaori Gurley
“LDJ5,” Palmer said when I asked him what’s next. “We got another election coming up in a month.So we're going to celebrate tonight and then get back to work tomorrow.”
