12 After early divisions, organized labor laments
loss of Amazon HQ2 deal in Long Island City
QUEENS WEEKLY, FEB. 24, 2019
BY BILL PARRY
Unions representing
thousands of workers
across the city were split
early on about Amazon’s
plan for Long Island City
— but were united in lament
after the retail giant
derailed their proposal
last week.
When Amazon’s antiunion
policies were exposed
during a City Council
oversight committee
hearing last month when
a company executive,
Brian Huseman, told City
Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer that he could not
support labor neutrality
for workers in Long Island
City, the gallery exploded
in protest.
But outside City Hall
that day, construction
workers and labor unions
rallied in support of the
deal that the state and
city struck with Amazon
to build its HQ2 campus
at Anable Basin and create
25,000 well-paying
jobs over 10 years, with a
plan to grow to 40,000 over
15 years.
Local 32BJ of the Service
Employees International
Union had carved
out a position that Amazon,
which doesn’t have a
single unionized facility
anywhere is the country,
might adopt a more labor
neutral posture once it
was established in progressive
and pro-union
New York City.
“Amazon’s new headquarters
will be a model
for how organized labor
can power the next generation
of U.S. companies
to greater success,” 32BJ
SEIU Political Director
Alison Hirsh said during
the rally. “These new jobs
and significant neighborhood
commitments
will help uplift Queens
families and the city as a
whole.”
32BJ SEIU had already
secured a commitment
from Amazon that would
have created thousands of
permanent jobs and good
wages for cleaners and
security guards at the
proposed HQ2 campus in
Long Island City and its
leader, Hector Figueroa,
who had organized thousands
of airport workers
during a years-long
campaign right here in
Queens.
Figueroa figured he
could do the same with
Amazon’s headquarters
in Long Island City.
The day before Amazon
walked away from
the project, four of its executives,
including Huseman,
met with organized
labor leaders in Governor
Cuomo’s Manhattan offices
where they worked out
a framework for a deal.
Stuart Appelbaum,
the president of the powerful
Retail, Wholesale
and Department Store
Union, had been a fierce
opponent of Amazon was
present along with the
regional chapter of the
Teamsters and New York
State’s AFL-CIO. Appelbaum
later said he was
“amazed” that Amazon
owner Jeff Bezos cancelled
the HQ2 project.
“Rather than addressing
the legitimate concerns
that have been
raised by many New
Yorkers Amazon says you
do it our way or not at all,
we will not even consider
the concerns of New Yorkers,”
RWDSU Director of
Communications Chelsea
Connor said. “That’s
not what a responsible
business would do.”
When the deal collapsed,
Figueroa lamented
the loss of so
many union jobs, and
the potential for so
much more.
“The news that Amazon
has decided to cancel
its plans to build its second
headquarters in New
York City is a disappointing
development for working
people in our city,”
Figueroa said. “This is
a lost opportunity for
Queens and New York on
many levels. Of course,
the loss of 25,000 direct
jobs and many more indirect
ones as well as the
billions in revenue that
the project was expected
to bring into our city is
unfortunate.”
“For labor however,
this is also a missed opportunity
to engage one
of the largest companies
in the world and to create
a pathway to union
representation for one of
the largest groups of predominantly
non-union
workers in our country,”
he added.
But Figueroa, who led
the seven-year campaign
in which airport workers
marched, held sit-ins and
rallies, and committed
civil disobedience such
as shutting down the 94th
Street Bridge approach
to LaGuardia Airport in
their fight for dignity and
economic justice, will
continue to fight.
“As a labor union with
members in 11 states and
Washington D.C., 32BJ
will continue to advocate
for family sustaining,
union jobs and our union
is committed to organizing
with working people
in New York and other
states across the country,”
Figueroa said. “We
remain supportive of the
many efforts to unionize
workers in New York,
where Amazon will still
have thousands of yet-tobe
unionized employees
who could benefit from
union wages, benefits and
representation. Union jobs
remain the most effective
pathway to the middle
class for working people
in America.”
Gary LaBarbera, the
president of the Building
and Construction
Trades Council of Greater
New York, said he was
stunned by the “unfortunate
news” after the
corporation had promised
to use all-union
construction at the HQ2
campus, providing at
least 5,000 jobs building
its 4 million-square-foot
complex with an opportunity
to expand to 8
million square feet.
LaBarbera lamented
not just the union jobs
however, but the loss of
the 25,000 to 40,000 jobs
the HQ2 campus would
have provided.
“Politics and pandering
have won out over a
once-in-a-lifetime investment
in New York City’s
economy, bringing with it
tens of thousands of solid
middle class jobs,” LaBarbera
said. “This sends the
wrong message to businesses
all over the world
looking to call New York
home. Who will want to
come now? We will remember
which legislators
forgot about us and
this opportunity.”
32BJ SEIU president Hector Figueroa had hoped to unionize Amazon’s HQ2 campus once its established, but the opportunity,
along with thousands of jobs, is now gone. Courtesy of 32BJ SEIU