2023-12-10 10:06:13
When he arrives for our interview, Chris Smalls, plated teeth, designer black glasses, bandana on his head and gold chains, seems to have come straight out of a rap video. And yet, it was not for his flow or his rhymes that this American came to Belgium for a few days. It was not for his star looks that he was invited to the White House by Joe Biden either.
If Chris Smalls is famous around the world today, it is because this former Amazon employee fought his former boss, the billionaire Jeff Bezos to denounce the working conditions, salaries and racial discrimination that reigns in the company.
Child from the neighborhoods of New Jersey
Christian Smalls, was absolutely not meant to shake the hand of a president. He grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Hackensack. Her mother raises her two children alone with a job as an administrator in a hospital. He attended public school and aspired to a career as a basketball or professional football player until a driver put an end to his dreams. “In the 90s, we didn’t have TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc. People lived in and with their community. We went to other people’s houses a lot more. We rang the neighbor’s doorbell to get a little sugar or flour . I knew this time when we lived together.”
An aborted musical career
After chaotic studies, notably as a sound engineer, Chris launched a musical career with a brief tour as the opening act for Meek Mill. But despite this notable feat of arms, his career as an artist does not seem to take off either. Looking back, Chris Smalls believes his destiny lies elsewhere. Rap will wait a little longer. He tells us that he has dozens of songs written “which will still be up to date in a few years”. He will return to music when the time comes.
Amazon and the promise of stable employment
In 2015, Amazon moved into its region and hired hundreds of workers. Chris will be one of the first entrants. Very quickly, he demonstrated managerial abilities and was quickly entrusted with the management of a team of around fifty people.
Very quickly too, he noticed that the working conditions were difficult to accept and that around him, the workers appeared more dejected and more exhausted than elsewhere. After requests for promotions went unanswered, he will understand that racial discrimination reigns at Amazon as elsewhere. “When you are a person of color in the United States, you know that you will have to fight for your rights all your life. We do not have a choice.“
In March 2020, several cases of Covid were identified among workers at the Staten Island hangar in New York. Worried regarding the staff, Chris Smalls demands from his employer that the site be closed and disinfected. Amazon decides to do nothing but Chris Smalls does not let himself be discouraged and summons the press before being fired for not having respected quarantine measures. Amazon’s legal director knowingly making him a scapegoat.
An internal memo accidentally distributed to more than a thousand people calls Chris Smalls “neither intelligent nor eloquent” and advises making him the “face” of the social movement in order to better undermine it.
It’s the drop of water that makes the vase overflow. The employee decides to create the first AMAZON US union. An obstacle course in a country where only 6% of employees in the private sector are unionized and where companies are fighting once morest unions, and particularly Amazon which considers them a threat to its economic model. His dismissal sparked widespread indignation on social networks, even being relayed by political figures such as Bernie Sanders, former candidate in the American presidential elections.
Over the next two years, Chris Smalls rallied Amazon workers through a series of bonfires, barbecues and other gatherings near the warehouse.
In February 2021, Amazon lost its lawsuit once morest New York regarding the Covid-19 crisis, allowing Chris Smalls to be compensated and reinstated into the ranks of Amazon if he wished. In April, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) was founded. The following year, Chris Smalls was elected first president of the union he himself created.
On this occasion, he was received by President Biden at the White House. “We spend most of our time educating workers, informing them of their rights which they do not know regarding. Unions are not always well regarded, and we must create a relationship of trust with workers. We must also be more inclusive in our struggle.”
Since his resounding victory, he continues to denounce systemic racism at Amazon and the working conditions imposed by the company in many warehouses around the world.
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