Workers protest AOC now
Amazon union woe
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is ghosting her comrades on the front lines of a labor battle against Amazon.
The socialist lawmaker promised organizers she would stand by them at a rally outside a Staten Island warehouse trying to unionize, but dropped out at the last minute — and protest leaders revealed to The Post this week that they were so crestfallen they didn’t even bother inviting her to a follow-up rally in December.
“I figured she would follow her word. It was heartbreaking,” protest organizer Christian Smalls told The Post. “I felt bad for the workers that were excited to see her ... It was like a slap in the face.”
About 50 people showed up for the unionization rally outside the JFK8 Amazon fulfillment center in Bloomfield on Aug. 11.
Activists from the independent Amazon Labor Union said they didn’t even bother inviting the congresswoman — who infamously helped defeat Amazon’s proposal in 2019 to open up a 25,000-job world headquarters in Queens — to a Dec. 15 rally outside the same facility. The congresswoman spent the holiday season in sunny Florida with boyfriend Riley Roberts.
“After she didn’t show up the first time there was no point in reaching out to her after that,” said Derrick Palmer, a packer at the Amazon warehouse.
The two organizers met AOC when they traveled to Washington, DC, to join Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in her eviction moratorium protest on the steps of the US Capitol in August. Smalls said they spent hours talking to Ocasio-Cortez about the Amazon union — and she lavished praise on the effort.
“Big Announcement she will be joining us at our first Rally in front of JFK8 Staten Island Amazon Next Week Aug 11th 4pm Pull Up!!!!.” Smalls said in a tweet after midnight on Aug. 3, sharing a selfie with himself and AOC (pictured).
Over the next few days, Smalls and Palmer said they were in contact with OcasioCortez’s office — as well as that of Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-Nyack) — to discuss logistics.
Yet just hours before their planned arrival, both pols dropped out. Smalls said AOC’s office came to him about vague “threats” the congresswoman had received and that she was canceling her upcoming planned appearances. The threat appears to have abated in time for her to attend the Met Gala a month later with billionaire heir Benjamin Bronfman and the wealthy taxavoiding clothier Aurora James.
Unionizing Amazon workers had been a holy grail of activists for years. Last April the company beat back an effort to unionize an Alabama warehouse. A 2014 unionization effort in Delaware also failed by a wide margin. Smalls, the president of the Amazon Labor Union, is looking to make history with the Staten Island warehouse.
Reps for both offices declined to comment.