https://socialistaction.org/2019/03/02/protests-bust-up-n-y-amazon-deal/
Protests bust up N.Y. Amazon deal
/ 22 hours ago
March 2019 Amazon Nov. 14 (Bebeto Matthews :AP)
Long Island City protest against Amazon on Nov. 18. (Bebeto Matthews/AP)
By MARTY GOODMAN
On Feb. 14, Amazon, owned by the world’s richest man, Jeff Bezos ($166
billion), announced that it was pulling out of a deal made with top New
York Democrats for a second Amazon headquarters in Long Island City,
Queens, near Manhattan, due to opposition from local politicians. But
the resistance was much deeper. Community groups, housing activists,
unions, and immigrant-rights advocates sprang into action to take on the
seemingly invincible trillion-dollar tech giant.
Amazon said that its new New York headquarters would cost over $2
billion to build and provide 25,000 jobs, with an average salary of
$150,000. Outrageously, the agreement reached last November with Mayor
Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, two “progressive” Democrats,
was negotiated in secret and included an outrageous $3 billion
bribe/incentive in tax breaks to Amazon.
Adding fuel to the outrage was a report released by the Institute on
Taxation and Economic (ITEP) policy on Feb. 13, which revealed that the
tech giant would not have to pay a penny in federal taxes for a second
year in a row, despite a whopping $11.2 billion in profits!
The protests, the outrage over the $0 taxes, and opposition to the $3
billion giveaway forced Amazon to retreat—at least for now.
Amazon’s new headquarters (HQ2) was to be located next to the
Queensbridge Housing project, the largest, low-income public housing
complex in the U.S., an ethnically diverse community that would have
faced an acceleration of the gentrification that is already engulfing
Long Island City (see Socialist Action, January 2019).
Acting quickly, about 100 community organizations mobilized, including
Make the Road NY, Desis Rising Up and Moving, and many others—even some
Democrats, like Queens Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Protesters rushed to the proposed HD2 location for angry rallies. Amazon
opponents stormed a high-profile hearing on Amazon at the Democratic
Party controlled City Council, where demonstrators chanted and did a
banner drop, all caught on TV. Protesters also rallied in front of an
Amazon bookstore.
The Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union denounced the deal at a
City Hall press conference. Democratic Socialists of America (DSA),
despite its illusions in the Democratic Party, mobilized significant
numbers for community outreach and protest.
Amazon’s record of unhealthy work conditions
Labor viewed the deal with suspicion, given Amazon’s reputation as an
exploiter of labor with a union-busting strategy. Amazon is synonymous
with very long workdays at low wages, wages so low in fact that many
Amazon workers are on food stamps. Moreover, as documented by The New
York Times, there is a militarized work culture at Amazon and unhealthy
working conditions, such as excessive heat and cold.
At a City Hall press conference sponsored by unions, Rashad Long, a
Staten Island Amazon worker, told of his complaining to supervisors
about excessive workplace heat. When asking that the air conditioning be
turned on, he was told, “Robots cannot work well in the cold.”
At the moment, there is an ongoing union drive at Amazon’s relatively
new location on Staten Island, which is already infamous for
mistreatment. If successful, the union would be the first of its kind in
the U.S. In Europe, however, coordinated strikes against Amazon have
broken out in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, etc. (see the
RWDSU’s union report, “What’s Wrong with Amazon?”).
New York immigration activists have mobilized against Amazon for its use
and sale of facial recognition technology. A report from the ACLU
revealed the company’s sale and marketing of “Rekognition” to police
departments and government agencies like Homeland Security and
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A protest letter to management from Amazon workers said, “We already
know that in the midst of historic militarization of police, renewed
targeting of Black activists, and the growth of a federal deportation
force currently engaged in human rights abuses—this will be another
powerful tool for the surveillance state, and ultimately serve to harm
the most marginalized.’’ The workers also demanded an end to Amazon’s
cloud-hosting services with Palantir, a Silicon Valley data analysis
firm. “We know that ICE relies on Palantir to power its detention and
deportation programs,’’ said the letter.
The announcement of Amazon’s New York pullout will not stop the creation
of the Arlington, Va., Amazon location, in a very wealthy area
negotiated with Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam (Democrat), who was
recently exposed for appearing in a disgustingly racist college photo.
Amazon’s Virginia ransom was “just” $573 million, based on 25,000 jobs
created with an average salary of over $150,000. However, studies of
corporate deals on “job creation” for massive tax breaks reveal a trail
of broken promises at all levels—and few, if any, jobs (see the recent
“Truthout” article, “Amazon HQ2: Why New Yorkers Were Right to Be
Skeptical”).
In addition, Gov. Northam also picked out an area in Loudoun County,
Va., 30 miles west of Washington, D.C., for expanding Amazon’s Web
Services, designating it as a site to receive millions in tax breaks
under Trump’s billionaire-loving tax-break legislation—money supposedly
to aid “distressed” areas.
Role of N.Y. “progressive” Democrats
The reaction to HQ2 shocked the neoliberal political establishment,
which includes New York City’s “progressive” leader, the self-proclaimed
“democratic socialist” Mayor Bill de Blasio. The mayor actually lit up
the Empire State Building in Amazon orange to deliver his
billionaire-loving message to Bezos.
Wannabe progressive leader Governor Andrew Cuomo has said, kidding on
the sly, “I’ll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that’s what it takes.”
Cuomo also said that the cost to New Yorkers would be a mind-boggling
“nada” because, supposedly, Amazon’s future tax payments and
contributions to the economy would compensate for the $3 billion tax
gift to Bezos—an assertion that astonished serious observers.
Since taking office, Mayor de Blasio has pretended to be a defender of
working people and the poor. His 2014 first-term election theme was that
New York City had become “A Tale of Two Cities,” a reference to a 19th
century novel describing extremes of wealth and poverty. De Blasio led
the 2018 re-zoning (gentrification) of upper-Manhattan’s low-income
Hispanic Inwood section—with overwhelming support from the
Democratic-controlled City Council—which many activists called, “ethnic
cleansing.” Inwood was the fifth de Blasio rezoning scheme to pass; all
except one are in Black, Latino, and Asian working-class neighborhoods.
The fight against Amazon proved that mobilizations work. Unfortunately,
Amazon is not leaving New York, nor will the real-estate grabbing tech
giant Google, but will merely adjust its tactics. On March 1, The New
York Times printed a letter signed by CEOs from Mastercard and Goldman
Sachs, the New York State AFL-CIO, several large public unions, and
others asking Amazon to reconsider New York, with the mayor and the
governor on board.
According to The Times, top Democrats, including Ocasio-Cortez, are
waffling in their opposition. Will they cut a rotten deal on
gentrification and exploitation? Stay tuned! It is certain that the
Democratic Party will continue to serve the goals of big business. To
win, labor and the oppressed communities must mobilize in massive
numbers until Amazon’s plans are defeated once and for all.
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March 2, 2019 in Labor, New York.
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