Amazon as The New American Plantation

• In Event: 20881 - Section on Labor and Labor Movements Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Rethinking Labor (New Perspectives)

Abstract

This project is based upon events and experiences surrounding an Amazon delivery station (DIL7) in Skokie, IL, a facility I began working as an Amazon driver at in October 2022. During my tenure there, a union effort was undertaken of which myself and a number of others from my “DSP” (delivery service provider) were central figures in organizing. Our efforts proved successful, as we were the first facility in the country to go “wall-to-wall” (across all DSPs) demanding union recognition. This came at a cost though, as our DSP was closed amidst our organizing in June 2024. Following this closure, we immediately waged a ULP (unfair labor practice) strike against Amazon alleging union-busting. Alongside this strike, we deepened our partnership with the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters and began organizing campaigns not only around Chicago, but around the country. Fifty-four of us are still on strike to this day and engaged in ongoing organizing activities.
This paper will tend to the first part of a three-part argument. The three parts are as follows. Part one concerns the structure of Amazon wherein I make the case that Amazon represents a return to organizational models characteristic of the American plantation economy. Such a political-economic arrangement demands different forms of labor movement resistance than what has been deployed over the last fifty some years. Thusly, in part two I compare and contrast the Teamsters organizing model, which I refer to as “Bureaucratic Unionism,” and the nascent model represented by the self-organized group of Skokie drivers (known colloquially as Fight Club) that I term “unions as autonomous collectivism.” The third part tends to “Fight Club” itself, opening up a space for the driver-organizers to reflect on the past few years, what the movement has accomplished, and where it is going.

Author

• Luke Matteo Cianciotto, University of Chicago