Amazon fired him – now he’s trying to unionize 5,000 workers in New York

Christian Smalls is taking on the fiercely anti-union colossus , convinced that a union of only Amazon workers is the smartest way to rally Amazon employees

Christian Smalls has taken on the biggest challenge of his life. Still smarting from when Amazon fired him last year, the 32-year-old is spearheading an effort to unionize more than 5,000 workers at four Amazon facilities in Staten Island, including a giant warehouse.

Smalls is taking a highly unusual route in pursuing this goal; he has founded an independent union, the Amazon Labor Union, convinced that a new union comprising only Amazon workers is the smartest way to rally Amazon employees behind a union after the crushing defeat of an effort to unionize an Amazon warehouse in Alabama earlier this year.