Washington, D.C. — In response to today’s news that Amazon workers in Staten Island, NY have successfully voted to unionize warehouse workers, the American Economic Liberties Project issued the following statement.

“Today’s vote to unionize is a massive victory for workers at Amazon warehouses and for the entire working class. This is a classic American underdog story: a few hundred people stood up to the wealthiest and most powerful corporation in human history — and won,” said Sarah Miller, Executive Director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “Their courage and resourcefulness, and the wave of similar campaigns that is now likely to sweep the country, are an inspiration to everyone who wants to see a more just economy that gives working families a square deal.”

“This historic victory also comes as policymakers on both sides of the aisle wake to the realities of Amazon’s monopoly power. When Amazon steals more than $60 million in tips from workers, imposes an absurd “time off task” policy that leaves them urinating in bottles to avoid write-ups and cuts hazard pay during a pandemic, it is exercising just one piece of a corporate strategy designed to systematically extract wealth and power from workers, independent businesses, and communities around the country,” added Miller.

“Now is the time for lawmakers to accelerate their efforts to break Amazon’s monopoly power,” said Miller. “If they are as courageous as the workers in Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse, Amazon’s days of reckless disregard for the law are numbered.”

View Economic Liberties’ Big Tech Abuse Tracker here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

###

The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; foreign trade arrangements support domestic security and democracy; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.