Challenging the giant: opportunities and barriers to union organizing and labor protests in Amazon Poland

Adam Mrozowicki, Szymon Pilch and Olga Gitkiewicz

Chapter 8 in Unpacking Global Amazon, 2026, pp 202-221 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The aim of this chapter is to discuss the opportunities and obstacles for innovative trade union responses to the emergence of Amazon Poland. The analysis explores the links between a heterogeneous socio-economic order in Poland, patchwork capitalism, the rise of Big Tech infrastructural platforms such as Amazon, and the development of bricolage trade unionism following the patterns of hybrid, multifaceted experimentation. Based on 30 qualitative interviews with workers, managers, unionists, and employer organization representatives, the chapter demonstrates how the patchwork institutional order presents both constraints and opportunities for union development. It is argued that due to anti-union employment and union-hostile organizational practices at Amazon, a repertoire of tactics typical of social movement unionism (internal democracy, external links, and committed activists), represented by a radical union (Workers’ Initiative), is better suited to develop, maintain, and possibly expand union organizations than a consensual and partnership model of traditional unions (represented by Solidarity).

Keywords: Amazon; Corporation; Platform Economy; Patchwork Capitalism; Union Experimentation; Radical Unionism; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035380442
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