He didn’t know it then—but the moment Chris Smalls walked out of his job, he was on the path to sparking a revolution.
Smalls had spent six years working at JFK8, a massive Amazon fulfillment center in New York City. But at the outset of the pandemic, after witnessing scores of warehouse colleagues working without protective gear, and what he felt was a lack of urgency to support fellow frontline employees, he leapt into action.
In heist-like fashion, Smalls began talking to his colleagues anywhere—from breakrooms to bathrooms—about the possibility of unionizing.
However, on March 30, he decided he could not risk his own health and wellness anymore, and walked out of JFK8 mid-shift.
He was fired the next day.
But the fight to unionize was only just beginning, and Smalls’ redemption was on the horizon.
On April 6, 2022, thousands of JFK8 workers voted to form the company’s first ever Amazon Labor Union, and installed none other than Smalls as its inaugural president.
This summer, Smalls released a new book titled When The Revolution Comes, where he explores the details behind the historic David and Goliath fight he mounted against the biggest company in the world, as well as candid details about his life in and outside the workplace which inspired his drive to fight.
I caught up with the staunch union advocate to get his reflections on building a workers’ movement across race and class, his connections with a pre-fame A$AP Rocky, and if he thinks that the Portland Clean Energy Fund should be used for hiring more cops.
MERCURY: Before working at Amazon, at a different warehouse, you wrote about some of the conditions there, which you described as similar to “working in a prison.” When did you first make those connections?
CHRIS SMALLS: It was definitely in retrospect. That’s why I thought it was important to put this observation in my book, because it reminded me of what prison can be like. Working at that warehouse definitely mirrors the way the military and prison industrial complex uses exploited labor. Pitting people against each other—by demographics, wages, and creating an environment where it could get dangerous real quick.
In the book you talk about people not having a whole lot of options when it comes to turning down a job. But in the midst of it, you also wrote about chasing your dreams in music. How many times did you see people’s talents get stifled, being in that grind more than 40 hours a week?
I’ve seen it pretty often. Amazon hires thousands of people. Everybody that worked there always said, “I’m here [momentarily].” Even during the pandemic, it was very common to keep seeing people coming in from other industries, because other industries were not working. I remember I ran into one guy and he was a top model for all of these luxury companies… Gucci, Louis Vuitton… but he’s here at Amazon, because there’s no work.
A lot of people had these same situations where they want to be musicians, rappers, singers, dancers, models, etc., and had to take an odds-and-ends job just to get to where they want to be—but sometimes it doesn’t go the way [they want].
You’ve crossed paths with people ranging from A$AP Rocky to Meek Mill.
A$AP Rocky used to hang out with one of my cousin’s best friends, almost every other day. There were times where he came and hung out with us—it was cool to see him before he blew up. We just called him Rocky. Ironically, Drake co-signed him, he dropped his first single, and then we never really heard from him again, he blew up so big. I was still an independent rapper at this time.
I was doing really big shows over here in New Jersey. I had an opportunity to host Meek Mill and Machine Gun Kelly, and yeah, I was blessed with the opportunity.
What relationship do you see between workers’ and tenants’ rights?
It definitely goes hand-in-hand. As somebody who’s been evicted, somebody who’s been living out of a car, I understand the importance of being organized, even in those situations. Because your rights can get violated—because you may not know your rights. And the same thing when it comes to workers’ rights. So a large portion of our campaigns are about education on what our rights are.
It’s inevitable: If you don’t know your rights, the employer or the [property] management company is going to take advantage. Because they know you don’t know these things, and they’re gonna use their money and power to crush you every time if you’re not organized. So I try to make that relationship in the book, to amplify tenant unions and tenant organizations.
You’ve been advocating for Palestine. Was it when you started the Amazon Labor Union that you began connecting these class and race struggles across the globe to what’s happening for Black folks in America?
If you told me I was going to be doing all these things just before the pandemic in 2020, I would’ve looked at you like you were crazy. That said, I’ve always been a fast learner. I’ve never turned down learning new information. So when Amazon fired me, put me into the spotlight, I galvanized energy from that and embraced the moment.
When it came to Palestine—Amazon is investing billions of dollars into this genocide, with their technology. Amazon Web Services is being used by the military. You start to learn the history, how history repeats, and how Malcolm X visited Gaza in 1964… and how the Black Panther Party worked hand-in-hand with the Palestinian movement. These things are not taught to us in our classrooms. I’ve been blessed to meet some of the Black Panthers who are still alive, talk to Angela Davis, and meet different people around the world. It definitely helped me shape how I want to organize and where the focus should be.
What’s been the biggest victory that’s come from the work of the Amazon Labor Union?
This victory resonated with millions of people around the world: I just got my passport the year we [started the union] and since then, I’ve been to 45 countries around the world. And everywhere I go, the Amazon Labor Union has touched workers in all these countries. And other countries are organizing because of what we did. Last year, for example, Canada accomplished their first [Amazon union certification] victory in the country’s history, and I was actually there for that launch. Same thing in London.
What’s your reaction to Amazon’s controversial approach to health insurance?
Amazon is diabolical. Especially when it comes to the fact that this company, which allegedly started out of a garage 30 years ago, has now been able to buy over 150 companies. Now, they’ve bought a medical company. So the fact that Jeff Bezos and his corporate buddies are suddenly allowed to look at people’s medical records… I don’t condone it. So much so that, alongside our unions, we created a workers comp program outside of the Amazon plan, which provides better medical leave options, better medical support, legal teams… you know, all the things Amazon doesn’t provide. And that’s why we need unions.
Here’s something local: The Portland Clean Energy Fund is a one percent tax on big businesses to fund clean energy projects for communities of color and low income people. This year there have been two attempts by the police union to get 25 percent of that money in order to hire 400 more police officers. What’s your reaction to that?
That’s a no-brainer—absolutely not.The police unions, they pay union dues–tell them to go into their own little piggy bank instead of taxpayer dollars. We’re dealing with enough as it is: surveillance, Ring cameras, ICE, DHS… all these technologies they already have… I don’t think we need to beef them up anymore. I support clean energy, I support putting money back into the community and putting community first. That doesn’t include police unions, because I don’t believe that police unions are part of the working class.
Recently, New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani was talking about reparations as being something that’s more logical than anything–not philosophical. What are your thoughts on reparations in this greater struggle?
We deserve reparations for Black people. America has never repaid the debt for what it’s done to us. When it comes to slavery… slavery never ended. It was reformed. Amazon is the new-school flavor of productivity—even being called the “picker,” which is the role I was in [for my department ]. Same thing when it came to slavery for our ancestors—calculate them by how many pounds of cotton [they pick ] per week or per day. Now they have technology, machinery, AI… all of the above, to help support how we bring productivity into these billion dollar companies like Amazon.
When it comes to reparations, I’m glad to see political figures talking about it. We need it legislated—make some codified laws. And unfortunately, even though Zohran might be the best progressive at the moment for the Democratic party, he’s still part of a Democratic system that doesn’t work. The oligarchs within the party will try to silence him.
So when it comes to reparations, I’m always going to stand for it. But will I be naive enough to think that they’re giving it to us? Absolutely not. Nothing’s ever given to us. We always had to fight for it.
Anything else you’d like to say about your work or book?
I hope people use this book as a tool. I hope people can see a piece of their lives in my journey. So people can say, “oh, yeah, that was me at one point,” or “I wanted to be a rapper,” or “I got evicted, too.”
The purpose of the book is for people to see we’re all connected and we all struggle… but also to give people motivation to hope.
I say this all the time: The victory I had with the Amazon Labor Union was the greatest moment in my life, next to the birth of my children. I want everybody to experience that, to celebrate with your comrades, with the people, your brothers and sisters—because you did something historical, monumental. I think everybody deserves that feeling.
Chris Smalls’ book, When the Revolution Comes, is available from Penguin Random House, and can be found locally at Third Eye Books.
