Amazon workers at Garner, NC’s RDU1 Fulfillment Center are gearing up for a union election at the facility, set to take place from February 10 – 15. The vote comes after over three years of organizing from the ground up by Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment (CAUSE), an independent worker-led union. The Southern Workers Assembly expresses our full solidarity with their courageous fight!
The union drive – which comes amidst an upsurge in organizing and collective action by Amazon workers across the country – takes on an added significance given that it is taking place in the right to work South, in the second least unionized state in the country, and that it is led by Black workers. The worker leaders of CAUSE have made intentional efforts to unite workers in the building across lines of race, gender, nationality, age, and other divisions that Amazon has tried to exploit to sow division.
This fight carries an added weight given the unprecedented historical moment in which we find ourselves, as the forces of big capital line up with the Trump administration’s plans to carry out a full-scale assault against the working class. Jeff Bezos, founder and board chair of Amazon and the second richest man in the world, was seated front and center at Trump’s inauguration in January, alongside Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and other billionaires.
The struggle that CAUSE is waging reverberates far beyond the walls of RDU1, and is a fight against the world that Bezos and the billionaire class hope to usher in with the help of Trump. Despite the fact that Amazon is one of the largest and most profitable corporations in human history, workers do not make enough to adequately care for themselves and their families, Amazon workers are twice as likely to be injured on the job than other warehouse workers, and workers have little control over their time and scheduling.
CAUSE is fighting for $30/hour, 180 hours of paid time off, a 1 hour lunch break, and a voice for workers on the job.
Amazon has shown time and again that it will blatantly violate the law to protect its bottom-line against workers organizing, and the same is true for its conduct at RDU1. No matter the outcome, CAUSE is leading a courageous battle against one of the most powerful corporations on the planet. All workers should show solidarity for their righteous struggle!
Now is the time for Amazon and other workers across the South to join the fight, by building workplace committees that can develop networks to build and exercise power across the Amazon supply chain. Organize Amazon! Organize the South!