Darryl Richardson, one of the 5,800 warehouse workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, talks about working conditions at Amazon, and about the historic union election currently underway.
Darryl Richardson, an Amazon worker, stands in front of the RWDSU building in Bessemer, Alabama, on Feb. 24, 2021.
All eyes are on Bessemer, Alabama, where 5,800 Amazon fulfillment center workers are currently voting on whether or not to unionize. With the vote counting just weeks away, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with Darryl Richardson, one of the Amazon workers in Bessemer, to talk about working conditions at Amazon, and about the importance of having a union.
This is the latest installment of our Real News Network special series “Battleground Bessemer.” To see more of our in-depth coverage of this historic Amazon union drive, which we’ll be bringing you throughout the month of March, subscribe to our YouTube and podcast channels, and visit our website.
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Amazon worker in Bessemer: ‘We gonna win’
by Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network March 11, 2021
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Maximillian Alvarez
Editor-in-Chief
Ten years ago, I was working 12-hour days as a warehouse temp in Southern California while my family, like millions of others, struggled to stay afloat in the wake of the Great Recession. Eventually, we lost everything, including the house I grew up in. It was in the years that followed, when hope seemed irrevocably lost and help from above seemed impossibly absent, that I realized the life-saving importance of everyday workers coming together, sharing our stories, showing our scars, and reminding one another that we are not alone. Since then, from starting the podcast Working People—where I interview workers about their lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles—to working as Associate Editor at the Chronicle Review and now as Editor-in-Chief at The Real News Network, I have dedicated my life to lifting up the voices and honoring the humanity of our fellow workers.