Chris Smalls Expected Home

Amazon Labor Union co-founder Chris Smalls is expected to return home to the U.S. tomorrow morning after being taken custody by Israeli military forces while attempting to deliver baby formula and other aide as part of the Freedom Flotilla to the starving people of Gaza.

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By Joe Maniscalco

Amazon Labor Union co-founder Chris Smalls is expected to be coming home to Newark International Airport tomorrow morning after reportedly being seized and beaten by Israeli military forces while taking part in a humanitarian effort to bring baby formula and other aide to the starving people of Gaza.

“What was his crime…trying to feed hungry people?” IBT Local 808 Secretary-Treasurer Chris Silvera told Work-Bites prior to the announcement of Smalls’ release.

Payday Report’s Mike Elk helped break the news about Smalls’ release and return to the U.S. today citing a social media post from Smalls’ Labor Party USA organization saying, “Let’s make sure he’s received with love care, and strength of community—because we are all in it together, united in the struggle for Palestinian liberation.”

Silvera was one of the few labor leaders who spoke out about Smalls’ ordeal as part of the Freedom Flotilla’s relief effort to Gaza earlier this week.

Brandon Mancilla, director of UAW Region 9a representing 34 locals in the North East and Puerto Rico, posted on X yesterday denouncing the Israeli military’s reported assault on Smalls.

“Chris Smalls was physically assaulted and detained by Israeli forces during an effort to deliver aid to the people of Gaza being starved by Israel’s inhumane blockade of food,” Mancilla wrote. “Release Smalls & all detained activists now. Feed the people, end the blockade and end the genocide.”

Smalls was reportedly the only Black person aboard the civilian vessel the Handela bringing aide to the people of Gaza earlier this week when according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition it was “violently intercepted by the Israeli military”and “its passengers abducted, and its cargo seized.”

Silvera told Work-Bites that the alleged assault on Smalls speaks to inherent racism and is reflective of the policing going on here at home where many police departments actually receive training from Israeli authorities.

According to Silvera, those contracts now need to be terminated—and unions, along with the rest of the US labor movement, need to speak out against policing rooted in institutionalized racism.

New York City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, head of the Civil Service and Labor Committee, called the Israeli military’s reported assault on Smalls “disturbing and unacceptable.”

“As the Chair of the Committee on Civil Service and Labor, we are familiar with Chris Smalls' work in NYC as a known labor leader and activist. The reports of maltreatment and physical violence against Chris Smalls after the Freedom Floatilla's arrival in the region, especially as [he was ] the only Black person aboard the Handala, is disturbing and unacceptable. We condemn the actions taken against Mr. Smalls and members of the Freedom Floatilla. We condemn this violence against civilians simply trying to render aid.”

The Civil Service and Labor Committee chair also called for the cargo being carried aboard the Handela to be released so that “the people of Gaza can receive desperately needed aid.”

“The human toll and lasting impacts of this humanitarian conflict has reached alarming heights, and we must find a resolution quickly to avoid losing more lives and drawing out a conflict that has negatively impacted families around the world," Council Member De La Rosa said.

This story is developing.