The ex-rapper who made unionizing cool again

How race and identity are shaping politics, policy and power.

Mar 30, 2023 View in browser   By Rishika Dugyala With help from Brakkton Booker, Jesse Naranjo and Teresa Wiltz Chris Smalls, who spearheaded the grassroots movement that led to Amazon's first union, is one of 40 people on The Recast Power List this year. | Robyn Twomey for POLITICO Hi there, Recast family! We've got another reveal before we publish our Power List TOMORROW. Chris Smalls is one of the biggest winners in a year that saw major gains for labor. He’s the guy who led a 2020 walkout to protest pandemic working conditions in Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse. The guy who was fired the very next day. The guy who formed the Amazon Labor Union, building a scrappy grassroots campaign that culminated in the very same warehouse unionizing last April. Smalls didn't have a union background: He raised money through GoFundMe and invited workers to cookouts in the hopes of organizing. Nor is the ALU anything like the big powerful unions that typically face off against behemoth companies. It has yet to replicate its success at other Amazon facilities as leaders grapple with their own internal conflict. The New York Times reported this month that the union has made little progress bringing Amazon to the bargaining table and is seeing growing pains, including unstable funding. Some organizers criticized Smalls for traveling and pursuing elections at other warehouses without strong support. Still, the Staten Island effort is a key victory, driven by Smalls’ charismatic leadership. The National Labor Relations Board certified this victory in January, rejecting an attempt by Amazon to overturn it. For this, we've named Smalls as one of the 40 influential people on our Power List. (Reminder, you can see last year's list at this link.) He dropped by the POLITICO headquarters in February. Here's a snippet of our conversation, edited for clarity and length.   Was The Recast forwarded to you by a friend? Don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter here. You'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy.   THE RECAST: Fashion is important to you. Can you tell us why? SMALLS: I always used to find something that would make me stand out, whether it was an accessory or multiple colors. It just is a part of my personality and the fact that I am so musically inclined because I was a rapper at one point in time. I want to break down the stereotypes and the barriers of looking a certain way. That you have to have a suit and tie to be in certain spaces, or you have to have a certain piece of paper to be in certain places. We should be able to be authentic, be who we want to be, and still be able to speak our minds and speak truth to power. I feel like I represent a lot of people that look like me, especially in the New York, New Jersey area where I'm from. THE RECAST: What was your first job and what did you learn from it? SMALLS: I learned that I [was] an essential worker at 15. I didn't know that back then. But, you know, my first job was actually working at Target. Minimum wage didn't matter to me in high school, but thinking about it now, 15 years later, the fact that minimum wage is still the same? That's the most alarming thing about it. THE RECAST: What are your priorities going to be for 2023? SMALLS: Our number one priority right now is getting the contract. We're going to launch our campaign, the fight for $30 an hour, because "Fight for $15" is way behind the eight ball. And we know that with the increase of productivity and the stalemate of minimum wage, we deserve a lot more as essential workers. Chris Smalls poses for a portrait at the POLITICO headquarters in February. | Rishika Dugyala/POLITICO THE RECAST: What advice would you give to a younger version of you who is trying to get into labor? SMALLS: That I could be just as cool as a rapper, as a union organizer. And I believe that's really resonating with the younger generation, the fact that we're making organizing cool again. We should be invited to classroom spaces for career days and we should be connecting with the younger generation so that they know — before they graduate and get into their work careers — what the difference is being unionized and un-unionized. THE RECAST: When do you start those conversations? How young is too young? SMALLS: I have twins, one boy, one girl, and they're 10 going on 18. And they were born with iPads in their hands. These kids are exposed to a lot more at a younger age. It's not always about becoming rich and successful. It's about a path and a chance to do that. And the only way we can do that really, is by unionizing and putting power back into the working class. Explaining that to kids, you can go as early as 10 years old. We have an opportunity to really shift the culture of labor in this country forever.   Follow us on Twitter Brakkton Booker @brakktonbooker Rishika Dugyala @rishikadugyala Teresa Wiltz @teresawiltz Jesse Naranjo @jesselnaranjo   Follow us

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