Between Feb 8, and March 29, approximately 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama will begin voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU).
The Southern Workers Assembly has issued a call for a National Day of Solidarity with Alabama Amazon Workers on Saturday, February 20. Actions are being planned across the South and the U.S. on that day at Amazon facilities (warehouses, distribution centers, Whole Foods, etc.). There is a demonstration planned at the Whole Foods Store at 1450 Taylor Road, near Eastchase Shopping Center in Montgomery, Alabama, at Noon on Saturday February 20th.
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 every- where to step up organizing and fighting back.
These predominantly Black workers who have in recent months formed the BAmazon Workers Union (www.bamazonunion.org), are on the cusp of launching a history-changing workers organization against one of the biggest and most powerful transnational corporations in the world, and its super rich union busting owner, Jeff Bezos.
In addition, these workers are standing up to the racist, anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South. Bessemer is a majority Black city in the Birmingham metro area.
Many of the workers at Bessemer warehouse are Black and the city has a history of labor union support dating back to the 1930’s when the CIO was organizing coal miners and steel workers in and around Birmingham.
Solidarity from every corner of the labor and progressive movements is needed now to show the workers in Bessemer that they are not alone, that all eyes are on the historic struggle that they are leading. This is especially needed as Amazon ramps up their union-busting tactics.
“The union struggle in Bessemer is not only about worker rights, wages and working conditions but also about civil rights, human rights and dignity for Black workers and all workers for large multi-national companies that are trying to dominate and control the lives of people,” said Mike Foster, union organizer.
The Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS) is supporting and co-sponsoring Saturday’s solidarity protest at Whole Foods in Montgomery and encourages its members to attend.