On 14 November, prominent American trade unionist Chris Smalls was in London for the UK premiere of the documentary Union, which follows the grassroots effort he led to create the first union for Amazon workers in 2022.
The Communist was lucky enough to snatch a seat for the screening and Q&A with Smalls and the film’s co-directors.
The movie is gorgeously shot and cleverly paced. But the drama is all in the political content, which is allowed to shine through with a pared back cinema vérité approach
Amazon’s retail operations rely on an enormous workforce that is hyper-exploited. Working conditions at their gigantic fulfillment centres are notoriously inhuman.
One worker is shown talking about how each time they meet a target, a new one is set, arbitrarily upping the ante to try to squeeze even more profit out of their work.
In the film, we meet Chris Smalls as he hands out food and talks to workers outside of the New York Amazon warehouse where he used to work. He is trying to collect enough signatures from workers to hold a vote on unionisation.
We learn that Smalls was fired in 2020 for protesting about the lack of protective equipment during the covid pandemic. He dedicated the film to a coworker who lost his life because of this.
The absurdity of a warehouse – which was ironically full of protective equipment to be sent – being an unsafe working environment was too much for him to bear.
This is only one of many stunning changes in consciousness depicted in the film.
One of the most exciting scenes depicts an older worker who is initially hostile to the unionisation efforts. His opinion is turned 180 degrees by one of the union activists, who exposes the shills who are being paid $2,000 a day to lie to workers.
Shockingly, the directors explained during the Q&A why they had to tour the film independently. Even distributors with whom they have worked in the past – including on other political material – are simply too scared of upsetting Amazon to carry this documentary.
One audience member asked whether we should be boycotting Amazon. Smalls correctly pointed out in reply that this is not the central point; that Amazon already makes most of its profits not through customer retail, but through web services.
Smalls did imply, however, that we should somehow try to go back to the days of ‘mom and pop’ shopping. The truth is that however much we might want to do this, it is simply not on the cards in a world of monopolisation.
The only way out is forwards. These giant companies must be placed under the control of the workers. If there is one thing this inspiring documentary proves, it is that workers all over the world are more than ready to fulfill this historic task!
Union will soon be available to stream for a limited time. See unionthefilm.com for more information.
