The Joy Silk doctrine: How a small change to labor law could have huge benefits for organizing workers
The Biden administration is pursuing renewing an old aspect of labor law that makes it much easier for workers to form a union—and offers much harsher punishments if companies interfere.
When Amazon workers in New York City tried to unionize their warehouse, they began facing intense pressure from the company. Amazon representatives promised to fix employer grievances, as long as they did not support the union. Workers were also told they couldn’t share union literature without Amazon’s permission, and that it would be “futile” to unionize, because—according to reporting from Motherboard at the time—the union organizers were “thugs.” Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama faced their own union-busting tactics ahead of their historic election there.