Amazon workers' union victory is turbocharging a new labor movement

Amazon workers' historic win last week in New York may wind up spurring union growth around the country after decades of decline, at a time when a tight labor market is empowering workers in ways that once seemed impossible.

The big picture: A remarkable confluence of factors — including a pro-labor White House, once-in-a-century pandemic and a super tight labor market — helped Amazon workers in Staten Island achieve a David and Goliath union victory, with almost no backing from traditional institutional labor.

"It has electrified all of our members and organizing leaders," said Mary Kay Henry, president of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The new Staten Island Amazon union has been contacted by employees at 50 other buildings in the U.S., according to the organization's president and founder, Christian Smalls.

Another Amazon warehouse across the street from Smalls' building has a union vote scheduled for April, said Seth Goldstein, the group's lawyer. And a separate group of AmazonFresh employees — inspired by the Staten Island efforts — voted to unionize and are moving forward, he noted.