Erika Martinez/Insider
- Amazon Labor Union vice president Derrick Palmer was charged with two counts of assault last year.
- The ALU has struggled with internal tensions after it led the first successful Amazon union drive.
- The union's president, Chris Smalls, was seen fighting another employee in December.
Derrick Palmer, the vice president of the Amazon Labor Union and a pivotal force behind the union's historic victory in a Staten Island warehouse last year, has resigned, according to an email from union leadership obtained by Insider.
Palmer's resignation comes after an Insider report detailed assault charges he is facing for allegedly strangling his girlfriend in May 2022. The case is still ongoing. Palmer has been offered a plea bargain in which he would plead guilty to one count of third-degree aggravated assault in April 2023, though it's unclear if he will accept the plea.
If he is convicted, Palmer could possibly be ineligible to serve in union leadership under a 1959 federal law that bars people convicted of some violent crimes from acting as union officers.
Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls sent an email to the union members late Monday: "Dear Brothers & Sisters, Amazon Labor Union, Vice President Derrick Palmer has submitted his resignation as Vice President of ALU effective immediately. Due to the matter being before the court the Amazon Labor Union has no comment at this time."
Per Small's email, Michelle Valentin Nieves, the union's recording secretary, will replace Palmer. Smalls, Palmer, and Palmer's lawyer didn't reply to emailed questions sent on Monday night.
Palmer's resignation is another sign of amid union turbulence. In December, veteran organizers left the Amazon Labor Union when Smalls established a new constitution that leaves him in charge until a contract with Amazon is signed — a potentially years-long process. Some organizers have said Smalls seems more interested in growing his personal fame than building momentum toward securing a contract.
Around the same time as the union rift, Smalls was caught on camera fighting a former Amazon Labor Union organizer outside Amazon's only unionized warehouse in Staten Island. Insider's reporting also raised questions about how the union spent nearly half of the $400,000 it raised on GoFundMe, which was not reported in the union's financial disclosures.
Smalls and Palmer were key to the victory at the Staten Island warehouse, known as JFK8, where workers voted to unionize by a compelling margin in April 2022. It was the first time worked had voted to join a union drive at Amazon, the US's second-largest employer that spends millions of dollars annually on union busting.
The two drew workers into conversations about unionizing with homecooked food in break rooms and at a bus stop outside the warehouse. Palmer, who is still employed by Amazon, took the union's message inside JFK8 with other union organizers. (Smalls was fired in 2020 for leading a walkout to protest the company's COVID-19 policies.)
After the union's victory last April, the duo rose to national prominence. Smalls, in particular, appeared to embrace his newfound fame, while Palmer appeared at times by his side on red carpets. The "two best friends" appeared on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2022, with a profile written by Bernie Sanders.
But as their stars rose, organizing activities at JFK8 and other warehouses appeared to flag, some union members previously told Insider. Two subsequent union votes failed at another warehouse in Staten Island and a warehouse in Albany. While the union continued outreach efforts to new warehouses, progress on reaching a contract at JFK8 stalled.
Meanwhile, Smalls, Palmer, and two other early ALU members appear to be looking for victories beyond Amazon, founding a nonprofit earlier this year with the stated goal of spurring organizing efforts at new companies.
Do you have a tip or insight to share? Contact reporter Katherine Long via the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-206-275-9280) or email (klong@insider.com).