Bessemer, AL – A March 20 solidarity caravan made up of delegations from three Tennessee city Labor Councils – Chattanooga, Memphis and Nashville – traveled to meet Amazon workers who have joined the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) in Bessemer, Alabama, where they held a rally at the union hall before going to the gates of the Amazon center to hold up pro-union signs and interact with workers entering and exiting the plant.

Speakers such as RWDSU organizer “Big Mike” Foster and the Ohio politician Nina Turner highlighted the link between the struggle at Amazon, led mainly by its Black workers, and the historical connection between the labor movement and the movement for Black civil rights.

#BessemerAL #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon #RWDSU

New York, NY – Between February 8 and March 29, over 6000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are voting on joining the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU). On Saturday, February 20, there was a national day of action called by the Southern Workers Assembly, with actions taking place in over 50 cities across the country.

This struggle is in response to the exploitative conditions faced by Amazon workers.

While CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth is $194.2 billion, Amazon workers do not have a union and do not make living wages. Amazon has faced lawsuits for failing to provide proper PPE to workers and having a racist bias in response to COVID-19. Amazon workers have even resorted to wearing diapers during their shifts to avoid taking breaks and risking punishment.

In the New York City area, there were two rallies. One of them took place in at Union Square and was organized by the Workers Assembly Against Racism. The other action was organized by the December 12th Movement in East New York, Brooklyn.

At the Brooklyn protest, over 40 people rallied in front of the recently opened Amazon warehouse. The speakers talked about the exploitation of Amazon workers, the need to support their unionization, and how Amazon has impacted New Yorkers.

There have been efforts made in New York City to unionize Amazon workers. One speaker from the December 12th Movement talked about the unionization effort made in Staten Island. In 2019, an Amazon warehouse worker, Rashad Long, was fired after an attempt to unionize the workers there. His firing was due to a supposed safety violation, but Long saw it was an excuse to fire him for his organizing. He put in a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, because workers have the right to discuss unionization without retaliation.

Much like how the Alabama Amazon workers are a majority Black workforce, East New York is a predominantly African American neighborhood.

Assemblywoman Inez Barron spoke about how the new warehouse in East New York will be bad for the community. Barron mentioned that there is a public school near the warehouse, and how the increased presence of trucks in the area will result in more emissions that can have serious consequences for the health of those students.

The rally lasted for about an hour, and then closed out with some chants, including “Amazon workers, we got your back!” and “Stand and fight, a union is a human right!”

#NewYorkNY #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon #RWDSU

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Amazon has dramatically increased in size and now employs more than 1.2 million workers, which is up more than 50% from one year earlier. The Bessemer warehouse employs more than 5800 workers and would be the first in the United States to form a union if the vote goes through later this month.

RWDSU says that they see the organizing drive as both about fighting for union rights and about fighting for civil rights. Alabama is a right-to-work state and if these workers vote to unionize it would be a major victory for the labor movement in the South. Additionally, a vote to join the union would be significant as a road map for other Amazon workers across the country who wish to form unions and have a legally recognized voice in decisions.

Bessemer’s population is predominantly Black. Black workers have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic both in death rate, access to healthcare, and economically. RWDSU has a history of fighting alongside Black workers to form unions in the South. A Black organizer with RWDSU named Henry Jenkins reported being shot at multiple times in past union campaigns in the area, and a bomb was found in 2011 attached to his car outside of a church in Selma, Alabama.

The National Labor Relations Board ordered a mail ballot vote to take place starting on February 2, but Amazon is trying to delay the vote and instead demand an in-person vote in which each person who wished to vote would be required to drive in to vote in-person despite the pandemic. Attempting to delay votes and make it harder to cast ballots is a common tactic used to bust unions during organizing drives. The company is claiming that the union does not represent the opinions of the majority of Amazon employees, but by attempting to delay the vote, it would appear that they do not believe their own words. The vote is set to continue as planned.

#BessemerAL #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon #RWDSU