CATS LIKE CHRIS

Just a few weeks ago, workers at Amazon's Staten Island, New York plant secured a major victory against daunting opposition. They organized and voted to unionize, becoming the first and only unionized worksite of the world's largest e-commerce company. They pulled this off despite management's attempt to assassinate the character and belittle the intelligence of Chris Smalls, one of the leaders of the battle to unionize the plant. They did this despite lacking financial and political support from traditional labor groups. They did it despite the fact that they faced a company that had spent over $4 million a year earlier on anti-union consultants. They did it despite the respectability types who just couldn't envision--and were embarrassed by-- a non- suit wearing former rapper in dark glasses and a flipped cap appearing in leadership position. Chris Smalls, the face of the movement, wasn't exactly your "dress for success" face and, if anything, looks like one of those brothers whose dress and mannerisms have long driven the Black elite crazy. These guys get lectures. About how they're holding the race back. About how their posture and gear unnecessarily stoke fear in White folks. About how they'll never get ahead "looking like that." About how they need to stop scaring the shit out of White folk.

Despite all of that, they did it.

And here's some reasons why we ought not underestimate the importance of what they've done.

WORKER EMPOWERMENT, ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, AND RACIAL JUSTICE

There's a few quick things to consider that'll underscore the importance of what just happened at that Amazon plant and, hopefully, also highlight the hopefulness embodied in the leadership of folks like Chris Smalls.

First, of all the groups tracked by researchers at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Black workers are the most likely to be union members. As 2021 drew to a close, the BLS found that 11.5% of Black workers were members of a union, a figure that's significantly higher than the 10.3% of Whites and the 7.7% and 9.0 %, respectively, for Asian and Hispanic workers. In absolute numbers, almost 2 million Black workers are union members. Clearly, anything that unions successfully achieve-- higher wages and/or better benefits-- disproportionately benefits the Black working class. Worker empowerment is integral to promoting and protecting the economic rights of the Black working class.

Second, and unsurprisingly, union density-- the percentage of workers represented by a union-- is positively correlated with reduced income inequality. The percentage of income gobbled up the top 1% was at its lowest during the post-war years when union density was at its highest. The 1 percenters' share of total income has skyrocketed since 1979, the very period during which deindustrialization, growing opposition to worker power, and the increasing ascendancy of neoliberal economics all gave rise to an upward trend in de-unionization. Between 1945 and 2019, the percentage of unionized workers dropped like a rock, from 33.4% to 10.3%. In contrast, the share of income claimed by the top 1 percent shot up from 35.6% to 45.8%. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), de-unionization and the consequent erosion of collective bargaining "is the second largest factor that suppressed wage growth and fueled wage inequality over the last four decades-- only excessive unemployment had a larger impact."

Third--but too often overlooked-- is this: Unionization is associated with significant dwindling in racial and ethnic gaps in income and wealth. Everything else being equal, a worker employed in a unionized plant earns 11% more than her non-unionized counterpart. Furthermore, this "union-wage premium" is particularly pronounced for Black workers: While unionized Whites are paid 8.7% more than comparably skilled non-unionized Whites, the "union-wage premium" for Blacks has recently been estimated to be as high as 13.7% (that is, everything else being equal, the typical Black worker covered by a union contract earns almost 14% more than the typical Black worker not covered by such a contract). This larger union wage premium for Black workers--coupled with their greater likelihood of being a union member-- implies that unionization, amongst other things, decreases the racial wage gap.

And just how would worker empowerment and unionization reduce the racial wealth gap? Well, just think about it for a minute: By doing such things as raising wages, improving job stability, and increasing the increasing the odds that workers have a pension plan, unions both help to increase the wealth of all workers and to close the racial wealth gap. As the authors of a recent report state:

"Unions help households by raising incomes, increasing benefits, and improving the quality and stability of jobs. All these things lead to both direct and indirect increases in wealth. When workers earn more money through union contracts, for example, they are able to set aside more of their paychecks and enjoy the additional tax incentives that come with saving. Moreover, benefits such as pension plans grow wealth, while others such as health or life insurance reduce the amount union members need to spend from their own savings during periods of illness or income loss."

As in the case of earnings, unions have a particularly dramatic impact on the wealth holdings of the median Black family: A report by the Center for American Progress finds that the median wealth of Black households with and without a union member is $101,000 and $29,000, respectively. In other words, Black households with a union member have median wealth that's more than three times as large as that of nonunion Black households. In contrast, the median wealth of White households with and without a union member are, respectively, $370K and $205K or, stated somewhat differently, White households with a union member possess a median wealth that's "only" about twice as large as that held by nonunion White households.

Here's another way of framing and thinking about the wealth impact of worker empowerment: For nonunion households, the Black/White wealth ratio is 11.6; that is, Black households held about less than 12 cents in wealth for every dollar held by White households. In contrast, amongst unionized households, Blacks possessed 28 cents for every dollar of wealth held by Whites. While worker empowerment and unions don't eliminate the racial gap in wealth, unionization can play a part in a more comprehensive program designed to address the racial wealth gap.

BACK TO CHRIS SMALLS

All of which circles back to Chris Smalls, the workers' victory at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse, and why this is indeed a moment to pop that bottle.

Over the last four decades, the balance of power has shifted more and more away from labor and toward capital. One result has been a long-run erosion in the number and percentages of unionized workers. Compared to 1983--the year the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) started collecting such statistics-- there's about 50 million more workers in the American economy but 3 million less union members. Over the last year, the share of workers represented by a union dropped from 10.8 to 10.3.

It's against this background that Smalls and three of his boys--Derrick Palmer, Jordan Flowers, and Gerald Bryson-- put the work in that eventually lead to workers voting to unionize. Mind you, this was an incredibly difficult task for a worksite that not only had beaten back previous efforts to unionize but also consisted of 9500 workers working across different shifts. It was also a funky and grass-root effort, with Smalls and Palmer hanging out at local bus stop and talking to workers about the importance of worker empowerment as they waited to catch the bus home.

Chris has become the face of that movement. Dismissed as "not sharp or articulate" by the opposition and ridiculed by the elite for his penchant for wearing colorful sweats, fitted caps, sneakers--and sporting fronts and tattoos-- Smalls has helped to pull off one a seemingly impossible feat.

I don't know about you, but I love this brother. Every time I see a pic of him, I'm reminded of the interconnection between worker empowerment and racial justice.

I love the defiance in his dress- the refusal to fit himself into some frame deemed "respectable" by folk who, in reality, are embarrassed by dudes like him.

I love the commitment that he has demonstrated for working class folk.

I love his hustle, and the way that he grinds for justice.

I love seeing him in those dark glasses, sporting those tats, and flashing them fronts.

I love this brother and his gut-bucket style of organizing.

I love this pic of him popping that bottle.

I love cats like Chris.