Between February 8 and March 29, about 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama are voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU). The harsh working conditions at Amazon warehouses, along with Amazon’s refusal to adopt measures that protect workers from COVID 19, have pushed Amazon and Whole Foods workers everywhere to step up organizing efforts.
These mostly Black workers, who have in recent months formed the Alabama Amazon Workers Union, face one of the biggest and most powerful transnational corporations in the world, and its super rich union-busting owner, Jeff Bezos. They are also defying the racist anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South.
Following the Day of Solidarity with Amazon workers in Alabama on February 20, the Alabama Amazon Workers Union now asks sympathizers to sign a petition against requiring workers to attend meetings at which managers spread lies about the supposed disadvantages of unions (lies also posted in bathrooms and break rooms and on the internet) and against intimidation and firing of pro-union workers. To sign the petition go here.