In this episode, which is a little longer than our typical episodes, we talk to Vickie Shannon Allen, a native Texan and a warehouse worker at an Amazon fulfillment center, where she sustained an injury on the job. Vickie’s struggle with Amazon to get the medical treatment she deserves is ongoing. As we discuss in the interview, it has been hell for her, and we are asking listeners to help us share her story and hold Amazon accountable. We talk with Vickie about her experience working for Amazon, but we talk about a lot more, too. We talk about growing up working class in Texas, about going to school hungry, and about the horrific, dehumanizing treatment she and her siblings got from their stepmother. We talk about falling in love for the first time, and we talk about heartbreak. We talk about working as a single mother and raising two boys. We talk about what it really means to fight for your future.

 

Additional links/info below...

• Link to Vickie’s GoFundMe fundraiser   
• Link to Vickie’s YouTube channel   
• International Amazon Workers Voice Facebook page 
• Michael Sainato, The Guardian, “Accidents at Amazon: Workers Left to Suffer after Warehouse Injuries” 
• Alex Press, Medium, “$15 Isn’t Enough to Empower Amazon’s Workers” 
• Louise Matsakis, WIRED, “Why Amazon Really Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15” 
• Bryan Menegus, Gizmodo, “Amazon’s Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed in Leaked 45-Minute Video”  
• Russell Brandom, The Verge, “Amazon Is Selling Police Departments a Real-Time Facial Recognition System”  

 

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

• Lobo Loco, "Malte Junior - Hall"
• Les Hayden, “Need” 
• Brother Timothy Clark, “Are You Ready?” 
• Silicon Transmitter, “Downfall” 
• Thorn & Shout, “Farewell”