At this very moment, one of the most historic union drives of our era is taking place at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. Around 5,800 workers at the facility, the majority of whom are Black, are currently voting on whether or not to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If they are successful, the workers in Bessemer would become the first unionized Amazon workforce in the United States, and Amazon is pulling out all the stops to keep that from happening. We got to sit down with Jennifer Bates, one of the fulfillment center workers in Bessemer, to talk about her working conditions and about why this union vote is so important. 

 

Additional links/info below...

• Jennifer's Twitter page
• BAmazonUnion website, Facebook page, Twitter page, and Instagram 
• RWDSU website, Facebook page, and Twitter page
• Democracy Now!, "“David vs. Goliath”: Warehouse Workers in Alabama Fight Amazon for the Right to Unionize"
• Alex Press, Jacobin, "The Alabama Amazon Union Drive Could Be the Most Important Labor Fight in the South in Decades (An Interview with Michael Goldfield)"
• The Valley Labor Report, "February 6th 2021, Full Episode RWDSU Amazon Campaign Live"
• Steven Greenhouse, The Guardian, "'We Deserve More': An Amazon Warehouse’s High-Stakes Union Drive"
• Luis Feliz Leon, The American Prospect, "Union Solidarity on Eve of Historic Amazon Warehouse Election"
• Kris LaGrange, UCOMM Blog, "Meet Amazon's Union Busters"
• Jay Greene, The Washington Post, "Amazon’s Anti-Union Blitz Stalks Alabama Warehouse Workers Everywhere, Even the Bathroom"
• Lauren Kaori Gurley, Vice, "Amazon Sends ‘Vote NO’ Instructions to Unionizing Employees, Tells Them to Use New Mailbox"

 

Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemusicarchive.org)

• Jules Taylor, "Working People theme song"
• Benjamin Banger, "June"