Catherwood LibraryILR School

Labor organizer Chris Smalls, who helped lead the first successful unionization effort at an Amazon warehouse in the United States, was reportedly detained while participating in a humanitarian aid mission headed toward Gaza. Smalls became nationally known for organizing warehouse workers around issues such as workplace safety, retaliation, and labor rights at Amazon. The incident drew attention from labor advocates who view his activism as extending beyond workplace organizing into broader human rights and international solidarity efforts.