Michelle Valentin Nieves serves as the Vice President of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), a new independent grassroots union and advocacy organization that represents 8 thousand Amazon workers who voted for the first-ever union representing Amazon workers in the U.S at a warehouse on Staten Island called JFK8. to support workers who are raising standards in their workplaces.
Michelle was born to a working class Puerto Rican family, near San Juan, PR who moved to New York City when Michelle was 9-years old after her family was displaced. Her Dad is a handyman-carpenter and her Mom has worked as a seamstress and as a building services worker. Michelle began working at Amazon’s Staten Island JFK8 warehouse in 2019 first as a packer during the holiday rush. As the pandemic erupted and Amazon management refused to provide basic safety measures, the front line workers started a movement to demand a safe workplace. As management refused to negotiate with their own workers, they ultimately voted to form a union.
Michelle became a organizer and then a leader and was ultimately voted in by the executive board to serve in various leadership roles, before being named as ALU’s Vice-President Michelle is completely self taught with no formal training on labor Organizing, taking a crash course on the NLRB rules ,regulations and Union elections process she is also a strong advocate for Women equal rights in the workplace and in Union leadership roles.