‘Amazon victory will spread like wildfire,’ SEIU president declares

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As we celebrate the recent win by Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York, we thought it only fitting for The Good Fight column to speak with the international president of the two million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Mary Kay Henry.

Known for a number of successes, Henry may be most celebrated for the historic “Fight for $15 and a Union” movement, which has helped 24 million working Americans win increased wages.

In 2010, Henry was the first woman elected to lead SEIU and has since earned numerous honors for her tireless work.

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Henry spoke with Daily Kos via email, answering questions about the future of unions,  President Joe Biden and holding him to his promises of support, and what inspires her to keep pushing forward and fighting the good fight.

Henry tells Daily Kos that workers across the country have walked off the job, raised their voices, and demanded more over the last two years. She says approval ratings of unions in America are at a 60-year high, and younger workers are coming together to unionize at millennial media companies such as Starbucks, Amazon, video gaming companies, and beyond.

“Young people and workers of color are leading a national movement, refusing to return to the status quo and making bold demands to be respected, protected, and paid a living wage.”
But to understand unions, Henry says, it’s also important to understand workers.

“The problems facing unions are one and the same with problems facing workers, because workers are the union,” Henry says.

She explains that gig companies, such as Uber and Lyft, have denied workers minimum wages and essential benefits by “abusing the law” and “misclassifying drivers as independent contractors.” She adds that unions have additionally sustained a “40-year attack from corporations,” and “some politicians who are set on putting corporate profits ahead of the workers who make those profits possible.”

When it comes to the conversation around what’s been dubbed the “Great Resignation” in the last couple of years, Henry calls it the “Great Reckoning,” saying that workers are “exercising their power in creative ways” to “improve their workplaces and demand more from their employers.” She applauds workers, saying they have shown “tremendous courage and determination” as companies have continued to “squeeze workers” and tried to shut down unions.

When I ask Henry about Amazon specifically, she writes that “the workers in Staten Island stood up to one of the largest, most powerful companies in the world and won—even in the face of their bosses’ relentless, multimillion-dollar union-busting campaign. This victory will spread like wildfire and continue to fuel the passion and the fight of workers everywhere demanding a voice on the job.”

Of course,  we all know that there’s no comparison between President Trump and President Biden. But Henry reflects that while on the campaign trail, Biden promised to support unions and has since been the “most pro-union president in history,” joining with workers to put companies such as Amazon and McDonald’s on notice.

“The Biden Administration has delivered real change, from signing an executive order raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors to flipping the switch at the NLRB [National Labor Relations Board], to passing serious investments that support the creation of good, union jobs—despite extremist opposition from members in the Republican Party hell-bent on destroying unions and our democracy. It’s astounding that not one single Republican is backing efforts in Congress to lower costs for American families, create good union jobs and invest in the caregiving economy that all of us depend on.

“Yet, even with a supportive President and Congressional leadership, we know we need to fully transform the rules for workers to build power. And we know what real recovery looks like: It means seizing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in care solutions that will lift up the Black, brown, and immigrant women who power our economy and our families. We need good jobs, with good pay, and workplace protections for those who have been traditionally excluded. With these investments, we can create an economy that can support the needs of all in our country. It’s up to our leaders to make the choice to build a strong foundation for an equitable recovery.”

Despite the many challenges to unionizing some of the nation’s largest companies, Henry says she remains hopeful and inspired by the workers themselves.

“Even in the face of unyielding corporate opposition, are mobilizing every day to create an economy that works for working people. Nearly ten years ago, fast-food workers with the Fight for $15 and a Union laid a marker by walking off the job to demand $15 and a union, and their relentless mobilizing continues to this day and is being carried forward by a renewed generation of working people at Starbucks, Amazon, across major airports and hospitals, and so much more. If you are paying attention to the voices of working people exercising their power, you will always find inspiration and hope for the future.”

The Good Fight is a series spotlighting progressive activists around the nation battling injustice in communities that are typically underserved and brutalized by a system that overlooks them.