A New Jersey man who founded an Amazon union has been charged after jumping a police barricade while protesting outside the Met Gala on Monday. <\/p>\n
Christian Smalls, 37, of Lodi, was arrested after he entered a restricted zone shortly before 7 p.m., according to the NYPD. Officers on the scene took him into custody. <\/p>\n
The incident occurred as the event was underway and celebrities were arriving at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. <\/p>\n
Smalls was holding a sign that read, \u201cAmazon refuses! To negotiate a contract with its union at JFK [Terminal] 8,\u201d CBS News New York<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n The sign also alleged that the company \u201cinvests in genocide\u201d in Israel. <\/p>\n Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos, were the main sponsors and honorary chairs of the event, a move that sparked a series of protests, according to People.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Smalls was charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and failure to obey a traffic device, police said.<\/p>\n Amazon Labor Union-IBT Local 1 said in a statement<\/a> that Smalls\u2019 protest and arrest were not connected to the union and that he has not been involved in the organization since August 2024.<\/p>\n Smalls was fired from his job at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, in 2020 after organizing a protest over concerns about working conditions that could lead to a COVID-19 outbreak, according to a report from ABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n He later served as president of the Amazon Labor Union. <\/p>\n Amazon Labor Union-IBT Local 1 urged Smalls\u2019 immediate release and criticized what it described as the NYPD\u2019s \u201caggressive treatment of protesters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we do not believe lone-wolf direct actions which aim to center one individual as the focus of what must be a collective struggle are helpful to the deep organizing the Amazon workers across the country are engaged in every day,\u201d the union wrote. <\/p>\n \u201cUncoordinated activity like this only serves to undermine that work and drown out workers\u2019 voices.\u201d<\/p>\n Smalls did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, WWD reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n