Why the union push at a San Bernardino, California Amazon hub is an especially big deal

More than 1,000 Amazon workers in San Bernardino, California unionized this week with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. They aren’t the first employees at the e-commerce giant to unionize.

But Amazon has been resisting, challenging or ignoring union efforts at several of its facilities for years now. So what comes next?

This news is bigger than just one more Amazon warehouse fighting back.

“Because this is the largest air hub facility on the West Coast,” said Kent Wong, who teaches at UCLA’s labor center. “So the fact that this organizing is taking place at this facility is a big deal.”

And the fact that it’s Amazon is a big deal. Giant companies that resist unions have outsized power to weaken organized labor, according to Kate Bronfenbrenner, who teaches at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

“Their invincibility to union activity makes other workers feel like, ‘Well, we can’t organize because they can’t organize,'” she said. “Because as long as they’re not organized, they drive everything down.”

Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement that Amazon isn’t obligated to bargain with Teamsters and accused the union of illegally coercing employees to join.

“Yeah, it’s completely ridiculous,” responded San Bernardino warehouse associate Ray Hill-Cristol, who was involved in the unionization effort.

Working conditions — not coercion — inspired his colleagues to organize, he said. “Many of my coworkers have to do overtime, 50 and 60 hours a week just to basically pay their bills.”

Workers have demanded that Amazon agree to union contract bargaining dates by Sunday. Hill-Cristol said that if the company refuses, more action — including a strike amidst holiday shopping season — is on the table.