Biden meets Amazon union leader at White House: 'Keep it going'
Amazon workers in New York formed to company's first union in April
President Biden met the organizer behind Amazon's first successful labor union effort last week, saying he wants to see more unionization at the company.
Christian Smalls, who led the unionization effort at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse in early April, visited Biden at the White House. Smalls is a former Amazon employee and led the JFK8 warehouse to become the first workers union within Amazon since the company's founding in 1994.
President Biden met Amazon union organizer Christian Smalls at the White House. (White House / Fox News)
AMAZON FACES BIGGEST UNION PUSH IN ITS HISTORY
"Chris Smalls is making good trouble and helping inspire a new movement of labor organizing across the country," Biden tweeted Wednesday. "Let's keep it going."
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 179.51 | +2.29 | +1.29% |
The meeting appeared to have taken place last Thursday, when Smalls was in Washington to testify before the Senate Banking Committee. Smalls wore a jacket with the message, "Eat the rich."
Smalls' White House visit came the same week as workers at another Staten Island Amazon facility voted against unionization. The labor union lost the vote 618-380, but vowed that "the fight has just begun."
"We’re glad that our team at LDJ5 were able to have their voices heard," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told FOX Business regarding the vote. "We look forward to continuing to work directly together as we strive to make every day better for our employees."
Amazon has already filed objections to the union at the JFK8 facility, though the litigation is ongoing.
Biden has previously voiced support for unionization efforts at Amazon. He offered the company a stark warning during an appearance at the North America’s Building Trades Unions legislative conference in early April.
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"That's why we created the White House task force on work organization empowerment," Biden said at the time. "To make sure the choice to join a union belongs to workers alone."
"And by the way, Amazon here we come," he added.
FOX Business' Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.
