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Biden pollster GSG ‘deeply sorry’ for Amazon anti-union work as labor groups abandon it

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Amazon employees arrive in Brooklyn with the paperwork necessary to join the NLRB Office in Brooklyn (New York), October 25, 2021.

Brendan Mcdermid | Reuters

Following the revelation that the firm had worked on behalf of top Democratic pollsters, political action committees and labor union leaders have begun to distance themselves from this major pollster. AmazonThe anti-labor activities at the warehouse in Staten Island, New York. 

In late March, CNBC reportedAmazon engaged Global Strategy Group to assist with materials for campaign materials at several Staten Island facilities including JFK8, where the company is based. a successful union driveYou can start earlier in the month.  

GSG is well-respected on Capitol Hill, and within Democratic political circles. GSG was a polling partner to a pro-Biden super PAC in advance of the 2020 elections and has a large list of corporate and political clients. including GoogleAnd Facebook.

Randi Weingarten (president of American Federation of Teachers) tweeted, “This is really, really disgusting,” after CNBC’s article was published.

As a gesture of solidarity with Amazon Labor Union, and to support the efforts of a strengthening labor movementThe AFT, along with several past GSG clients, are distancing from GSG. They also pledge not to do business in the future. All this follows an unsuccessful campaign.

1. April: JFK8 election tallyIt was clear that employees supported unionization by wide margins. This is the first such vote at Amazon facilities in the U.S. filed objections with the National Labor Relations Board, arguing the election process was tainted.

Joe Biden, President of the United States, promised that he would be “the most prounion president”. expressed his supportAmazon unionization efforts, April 6, 2011, remarking: “By-the-way, Amazon! Watch.” 

GSG originally tried to keep Amazon work under wraps. The firm now apologizes for its involvement in the campaign after it was attacked by clients.

Tanya Meck is a GSG partner and managing directress.

Amazon has yet to respond to my request for comment.

Momentum is a movement that has momentum

Service Employees International Union (one of the most powerful labor unions) was one group that cut all ties to GSG. According to records from the Department of Labor, SEIU spent $1.74million on GSG services between 2005 and 2015. According to the filings, $66,500 was paid by the SEIU for voting services last year.

CNBC spoke with a SEIU spokesperson who said that GSG would not be used in the future by the national SEIU office.

Weingarten stated that the AFT has not worked with GSG for several years and won’t return as a client. According to Labor Department records, GSG was paid $160,000 by AFT for consulting and polling services in 2013 and 2014.

“There are many consultants who have consistently supported the rights of those who work hard for a living — people like teachers, bus drivers, nurses, and Amazon workers — to have a voice on the job,” Weingarten said in a statement. Weingarten stated that they will continue to support these people and reminded them every day that work for the working class is good business.

Not only are unions upset, but so are other clients. League of Conservation Voters is a political advocacy and action group. It said that it was “reevaluating how this news might impact future plans.” In Iowa and Nevada, Democratic parties that have employed GSG for various Democratic candidate campaigns in the past, they said that GSG will be their only option going forward.

“We stand proudly with our unions as well as our nation’s working people, and we were outraged when GSG was involved in union-busting efforts,” an official from Nevada State Democratic Party wrote in an email. We will no longer be working with them as a result.

CNBC reached out approximately a dozen politicians, PACs and other entities that had been identified as GSG client in Federal Election Commission filings. None of these elected officials responded to CNBC’s request.

Of the labor groups CNBC contacted, only one, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners, said it will continue to work with GSG.

GSG was founded in 1995 by a small polling company. Since then, it has expanded its services to include research and public relations. The firm’s website says that it “led polling to win dozens of campaigns and political organisations in 2018 and 2020, to ensure today’s Democratic majority in the US House of Representatives as well as the US Senate.”

GSG worked with Democratic Sens as the polling partner of Priorities USA. Priorities USA is a super PAC which backed Biden. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ed Markey of Massachusetts. A decade ago, it employed Jen PsakiBiden is currently Biden’s White House Press Secretary.

Amazon’s union-busting techniques on Staten Island included papering walls with banners that read “Vote No,” setting up an anti-union website — unpackjfk8.com — and showing presentations that workers were required to sit through at meetings.

The Amazon Labor Union was launched last week filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB, accusing Amazon and GSG of interfering in employees’ right to organize.

Amazon also fought hard to stop unionization elsewhere, most notably in the United States. Bessemer, Alabama, where workers just concluded a second union vote after the initial one failed last year. The latest electionThe result was close, but so many of the votes have been challenged that it is uncertain what will happen.

Amazon Warehouse workers increased their activism in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemicDemand better wages and working conditions. They have been supported by top Democrats from across the nation.

“Amazing work by worker-led @AmazonLaborIn Staten Island,” Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York wrote in a Twitter post after counting the votes. Congratulations on your historic win! Good luck with the contract negotiations.

WATCH: Bezos addresses Amazon union vote in letter to shareholders



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