Newsletter for the Movement for Economic, Climate, and Racial Justice

’Tis the season for hot chocolate, reuniting with family and friends, and of course, protesting against the biggest and baddest corporations. It’s a beloved tradition at ALIGN. On Cyber Monday 2018, ALIGN joined unions, community groups, and Amazon workers to storm the Amazon Bookstore in Manhattan — not to buy the latest Kindle — but to push back on Amazon HQ2, the massive development that would have given the company millions of dollars in handouts and accelerated gentrification in Queens. We won our demands four months later. In 2020, we stood in solidarity with workers who walked out on Cyber Monday because they lacked protections as COVID ravaged warehouses. This year, following a wave of organizing in warehouses and delivery trucks, Amazon workers are walking out in New York for safe jobs and fair pay. Amazon workers know all too well that the holidays mean stress, overwork, and a higher risk of injury. It means more spending when wages aren’t keeping up with cost of living. But holiday cheer shouldn’t just be for the wealthy few. The best of our holiday spirit brings us out to the picket lines, even in the cold, with the communities fighting for the dignity and respect that all New Yorkers deserve. That’s the type of joy that lasts all year.

Take Action

Join Climate Works for All for the Green Healthy Schools Campaign launch on Tuesday, December 5th at 3:30 PM!

Together, we can win a stronger, more resilient New York. Become a sustaining member of ALIGN so we can continue building coalitions for economic, climate, and racial justice.

New York’s climate movement is ready to hold big oil accountable and to build our future on real, community-led environmental justice solutions. The NY Renews coalition launched the #ClimateJobsJustice campaign this year in Buffalo, Hudson Valley, NYC, and Long Island as we called on Governor Hochul to include the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package in her FY 2025 budget, including funding for climate resilience projects ready to break ground in communities across the state. These critical projects would not only update our energy grid, but also make homes across our state affordable and safer, from our stoves to our heaters.

ALIGN joined the NYC launch event with over a hundred advocates in Williamsburg, right next to the Bronx Queens Expressway — an infamously racist infrastructure project that increases asthma and pollution risks to Black and brown communities. The event put a spotlight on community-led climate solutions that could change our neighborhoods for the better, and many of our strongest allies in the legislature spoke or were represented by their staff at our events, including Senator Gonzalez and Assemblymembers Solages, Gallagher, and Gonzalez-Rojas.

As #TeamClimateJustice, we believe in a resilient climate future built by workers with good union jobs. That’s a whole lot better than the climate catastrophe Team Fossil Fuels knowingly created.

Throughout the day our social media accounts were flooded with your voices, photos, and calls for climate justice. You can check out our campaign launch social media feed at @nyrenews on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter (X).

On Cyber Monday, Amazon workers in the Hudson Valley ended their shift with a rally and practice picket to send the megacorporation a message — New York’s workers won’t stand for low wages and dangerous working conditions. Allies across the labor movement showed up in solidarity during what is always a grueling holiday shopping season as orders pour in, deliveries stack up, and workers pay the price, straining their bodies as they lift and twist heavy boxes for hours on end. It’s no secret that New York’s warehouse workers experience injury four times more often than the average New York worker. And Amazon workers are injured at an even higher rate, with one in 12 full-time workers getting hurt at Amazon facilities. 

Amazon workers and labor allies rallied outside of the company’s massive SWF1 warehouse in the Hudson Valley to protest low wages and dangerous working conditions.

That’s why this week, our New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition put out the call to Governor Hochul to champion the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act in the 2024 state budget. This is urgent, common-sense legislation that will drastically improve safety in one of New York's most dangerous industries, requiring that warehouses be designed for safety over profit. We know that Amazon isn’t going to regulate itself. It’s up to New York to make our state a safe place for workers, and ensure that solidarity is not just a season but a standard.

Alliance in Action

Updates from ALIGN's Board of Directors

NYC-EJA is joining Jobs to Move America to pass the The Green Transit, Green Jobs (S.6089/A.6414) bill that requires public transit authorities to purchase only zero-emission buses when replacing old diesel buses after 2029. Send a letter to the Governor today!

New York Communities for Change joined legislators and advocates to protest Mayor Adam’s proposed budget cuts, despite NYC holding $9B in reserve, which would affect school, childcare, CUNY, housing, healthcare, and more. 

RWDSU: Unionized REI workers across the country filed a coordinated, nationwide unfair labor practice charge over the company’s bad faith bargaining practices and unilateral workplace changes that show a pattern of egregious anti-union behavior, emotional manipulation, and retaliatory actions against workers, such as firings, changes to work schedules, and disciplinary practices.

[email protected]