Washington DC—One won’t see mainstream media come out to report the annual May Day March in Washington DC at Malcom X Park and the numbers of marchers won’t swell by the tens of thousands as they do at stores on black Friday or at stadiums during the playoffs. But maybe May Day should be much more popular given that workers rights affect just about everyone struggling to make it in the economy with earnings for many that don’t even cover the cost of living. Mainstream media avoids coverage of workers carrying International Workers of the World (IWW) posters, red flags and calling for workers’ rights with higher wages because the wealthy own the major media outlets. why advertise the power of workers organizing? But the Organizing dynamics of union representation in Amazon max-prison style warehouses and Starbucks coffee shop sweat shop counters has caught mainstream media attention lately. Wealthy media owners know that workers hold the real power in determining their influence in the workplace and their economic outcomes—when they are organized and speak with one voice.
Despite virtually no media coverage, organizers from the IWW, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party, and immigration rights groups loyally show up each year to raise their voices and community awareness of the struggles workers, women, and immigrants face for paying the price of the long arm at capitalism’s stick held by wealthy CEOs and political classes.
The May Day March is a celebration of the power of the working class despite a lack of resources in both time and money and a lack of the lobbying power and access enjoyed by the wealthy in legislative affairs.
Diana, a member of the Communist Party, spoke about their reasons why supporting worker’s rights is important, saying that May Day is a day workers celebrate their collective power through organizing with unions. “Workers’ rights are always going to be a struggle because of the nature of the power of the capitalist ruling class has over us, they said. Diana, who did not give their last name pointed out that many of the privileges workers enjoy—the 5-day work week, 8-hour work day, and a 2-day time of time off per week were the result of unions and sacrifices workers make to fight for those rights.
But they also pointed out that immigrants, marginalized persons, and latinos working in janitorial and restaurant positions had the least power in the workforce.
“We are the backbone of this country and deserve to be respected and not exploited, they said.
Diana offered that could be accomplished by organizing unions by “standing up and taking revolutionary action for all [workers’] rights, not just for the rights of a few.”
Union Organizers Gain High-Profile Victories
With small a budget and improbable odds, organizers were able to vote the unionize an Amazon fulfillment warehouse in the Staten Island Borough, NYC on April 1, 2022, the first ever unionization of an Amazon facility. The main organizer, Christian Smalls had been fired from Amazon for staging a walk-out in 2020 over a lack of worker protections during the Covid pandemic.
This was a stunning victory for workers of the behemoth company run by Jeff Bezos, a billionaire who reaped over 47 billion in profits during the pandemic while many workers lost jobs. Amazon workers were forced to work in high pressure conditions and odd-hour shifts management created despite the spread of Covid through their ranks and with little support or safeguard for them them from managers. This is one of the main reasons why Smalls organized the successful unionization vote on April 1, 2022. His story is an impressive example of how the will and tenacity of organizing can overcome the deep-pocket push-back and lobbying power of the largest companies in the U.S.
The efforts of Smalls and others like him have resulted in historic gains for workers during a time of upheaval in the workforce due to the pandemic and inflationary pressures. It has also emboldened other Amazon facilities to begin organizing for union representation.
It is also in keeping with the struggle of the workers during the Chicago Haymarket riots 135 years ago fighting for the 8-hour work week and other rights.
Starbucks employees have also been successful, voting to unionize coffee shops in several locations. A popular Starbucks location in Baltimore at the corner of Charles and Preston Streets unanimously voted to unionize just last week. This accomplishment occurred despite intense lobbying from Starbucks management against workers’ unionizing efforts.
During Pandemic Billionaires Gained While Workers Lost
Billionaires raked in nearly 6 trillion during the pandemic over the last 2 years while many women lost jobs staying at home to care for families and their overall wealth of workers diminished by 0.3 %, jobs and savings evaporated, a million died in the U.S., and 12 million died globally. Yet the global economy remained tilted so that the profits of the U.S. big five (Amazon, Facebook, Walmart, Big Oil, Blackrock), afforded billionaires breathtaking gains.
The facts are really quite ugly when it comes to the viability of the U.S. working class with inflation taking more than its share of a shark-like bite at the little wage gains workers have eked out over the last six months. Just to fill up the tank costs over $50—and in case one is wondering, most of those who attended the 2022 May Day March in Washington DC walked, rode their bike, or took metro to get to it.
The world’s 2,400 billionaires raked in an increase of $4 trillion to their wealth during the first year of the pandemic alone, increasing their fortunes by 54%, according to a published report and that was in the first year of the pandemic.
During the lengthy pandemic the wealthiest 1% increased their wealth by $6.5 trillion in 2021 to 32.3 % while the wealth owned by the bottom 90% of Americans dropped by 0.3 %, (30.2% from 30.5% of total wealth) according to government statistics. The wealthiest Americans (the “1 %” owned 32.3 % of total wealth. the next bracket of wealth holders “the 9 %” have the balance of wealth.
