Amazon Is Busting Unions. Biden Is Giving Them Huge Federal Contracts Anyway. – Jacobin magazine

The Biden administration has reawarded a massive $10 billion federal contract to Amazon, even as the president is facing mounting pressure to fulfill his promise to halt such contracts to companies that refuse to remain neutral in union elections. The contract decision came as Amazon responded to its workers first successful union drive by busting the organizing drive that followed.

At issue is Joe Bidens 2020 promise to ensure federal contracts only go to employers who sign neutrality agreements committing not to run anti-union campaigns.

Amid revelations of Amazonsaggressiveefforts to shut down a union drive among its workers, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) last month sent a letter to Biden asking him to fulfill that promise . . . to make sure that federal dollars do not flow into the hands of unscrupulous employers who engage in union-busting, participate in wage theft, or violate labor law.

A day later,Nextgovreported that Bidens National Security Agency (NSA) ratified a $10 billion cloud computing contract for Amazon, which hired the brother of Bidens top aide as a lobbyistdays after the 2020 presidential election. The contract for the companys web services division is code-named Wild and Stormy, and is distinct from another massive Pentagon cloudcontracton which Amazon is also currently bidding.

A few days after Amazonreceived the NSA contract, the Amazon Labor Union lost its second union election bid by a two to one margin at another Staten Island warehouse, after Amazon mounted a furious campaignto halt the organizing drive.

In effect, while Amazon was doubling down on its union busting, the Biden administration was delivering a massive federal contract to the company, signaling to Amazon executives that he is so far not interested in fulfilling his pledge to use the governments purchasing power to be the most pro-union president.

Meanwhile in Congress, lawmakers are advancinglegislationthat could give Amazon new tax breaks and give $10 billion to company founder Jeff Bezoss space company. Most Democratic senators also voted Wednesday toreject a measure from Sanders demanding that tech companies that receive government subsidies remain neutral in union elections.

Amazon first received the NSA contract from the Biden administrationlast summer, months after Biden pledged to make such deals contingent on union neutrality. But the contract was soon challenged by Microsoft, which allegedthat its own competing proposal had not been properly evaluated.

In the interim, Biden could have signed an executive order to rescind such contracts for employers that do not remain neutral in union elections but he has declined to do so.

Now, his administration has gone a step further, ratifying the lucrative contract even as Amazon has been making international headlines trying to stop union drives at the company, as well as fieldingallegationsthat it has been violating labor law in the process.

The details of Amazons contract and the dispute will remain classified, due to anexemptionin public records laws for national security.

Bidens contract pledge underscored how much power federal, state, and local governments have in creating fair conditions for union elections. Major corporations rely on those governments for contracts and subsidies, giving public officials the power to make that money contingent on companies treating workers fairly.

The Amazon Web Services deal is a case in point. That division, which oversees its government contracting, fuels the companys overall profits. Indeed, the companyreceived double the amount of operating income from the division $18.53 billion of the rest of its sprawling North American operations. If Biden and state governments predicate their contracts on Amazon remaining neutral in union elections, it would force the company to choose between union busting and massive profits.

That was the core of Bidens 2020 campaign pledge.

Today, I am renewing my request to President Biden to fulfill that promise, Sanders said Thursday at aSenate hearing. In my view, however, the time for talk is over. The time for action is now. Taxpayer dollars should not go to companies like Amazon who repeatedly break the law. No government not the federal government, not the state government, and not the city government should be handing out corporate welfare to union busters and labor law violators.

Also on Thursday, Amazon Labor Union president, Chris Smalls, reportedthat during a White House visit, Biden had told him that Smalls had gotten [Biden] in trouble.

Biden was likely referring to his statement in April to a union group where he said Amazon, here we come a statement that Press Secretary Jen Psakiwalkedback almost immediately.

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Amazon Is Busting Unions. Biden Is Giving Them Huge Federal Contracts Anyway. - Jacobin magazine