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Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama had a surprise ally in U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, with Conservative lawmakers revealing on Friday he supported their union organizing efforts.
The Republican senator from Florida accused Amazon AMZN in an editorial published by USA Today of waging “a war on working class values” by supporting workers in Bessemer, Alabama, who have been voting since February. whether to organize a distribution facility there.
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“When Senator Rubio says Amazon is ‘waging a war on working class values,’ does he mean our starting salary of $ 15, full benefits, or the paid parental leave that we give to hourly workers? If he stands with American workers as he says, he should endorse Senator Sanders’ minimum wage today.
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Rubio lambasted the Seattle-based e-commerce giant and its billionaire boss Jeff Bezos, who recently announced he was stepping down from the day-to-day management of the company, for trying to appeal to the traditional rejection of unions by workers. conservatives even as he stands alongside the liberals on cultural issues.
The Floridian, who is widely believed to have clung to presidential ambitions previously dashed by Donald Trump in 2016, also posted a video making similar comments about what he apparently perceives as hypocrisy within the Amazon direction:
“For decades, companies like Amazon have been allies of the left in the culture war,” he said. “But when their bottom line is threatened, they look to the Conservatives for their salvation.”
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Rubio also criticized Amazon for using its weight to “crush small businesses” and to ban conservative books on its website and traditional charities from participating in its AmazonSmile program.
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Earlier this month, four members of Congress, including Rubio, wrote to Amazon about her decision to shoot “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment,” a book published by Ryan T. Anderson, researcher at The Heritage Foundation, billed as a political philosopher, in 2018, but recently disappeared from the Amazon website, the Kindle store, and the Audible audiobook platform.
This week, Amazon defended its decision, saying it had done so because the book presented LGBTQ identity as a mental illness. Lawmakers had previously complained about the move, saying Amazon only removes things liberals find offensive.
In attacking Amazon’s labor practices, Rubio also cited his recollections of a young boy walking a picket line with his father, who was a bartender at a hotel in Las Vegas. Rubio said his experience instilled in him the idea that “all workers deserve respect” and that Amazon views its employees as “a cog in a machine”.
In his apparent push for workers, Rubio joins President Joe Biden, who posted a video earlier this month on a social media account expressing his support for Bessemer workers. Although the president did not mention Amazon by name, he said workers have the right to vote on organizing without interference from an employer.
Also see: Congressional Democrats side with Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama
In a statement Friday, Amazon said: “When Senator Rubio says Amazon ‘is waging war on working class values,’ does he mean our starting salary of $ 15, full benefits or parental leave? paid that we give to hourly workers? If he stands by the side of American workers as he says he should approve [Sen. Bernie Sanders’s] minimum wage bill today. “
Amazon has launched a website – mustwithoutdues.com – aimed at discouraging its employees from organizing. One of the site’s slogans is “Vote now and vote no”.
Efforts to organize Amazon’s warehouse in Alabama are led by the Union of Retailers, Wholesalers, and Department Stores. RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum on Friday praised Rubio’s support, saying it “demonstrates that the best way for workers to achieve dignity and respect in the workplace is through unionization. It shouldn’t be a partisan issue. “
MarketWatch contributed.
A version of this report first appeared on NYPost.com.
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