From Feb. 8 to March 29, 2021, around 5,800 workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, will vote on whether or not to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union. If successful, they would become the first unionized Amazon workforce in the United States. In our special TRNN series “Battleground Bessemer,” we’ll be bringing you in-depth coverage of this historic union drive, including interviews with workers and organizers on the ground in Bessemer (and beyond).

One year after the failed Amazon union drive, workers in Bessemer are voting a second time
“The excitement and energy this time is very different inside the facility and out,” said Jennifer Bates, one of the worker-leaders involved in last year’s union drive at the Bessemer facility.

Amazon workers in Bessemer have overthrown decades of anti-union culture
We will soon know the results of the historic Amazon union election in Bessemer, Alabama. Whatever the outcome, though, workers and organizers have already achieved a remarkable feat by breaking the grip of anti-unionism in the South.

Workers in Bessemer are “gonna start a movement”
Longtime poultry plant worker and lead union organizer Michael “Big Mike” Foster explains what Amazon workers’ struggle for a union in Bessemer, Alabama, means for the labor movement moving forward.

Bigger than Bessemer: Workers everywhere must stand up & fight back
Before she testified in front of the Senate Budget Committee about Amazon’s exploitative and dehumanizing conditions, Jennifer Bates sat down with TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez to talk about the historic Amazon union drive in Bessemer, Alabama.

From Bessemer to Baltimore, Amazon workers demand the right to organize
Activists held an international day of action to support Amazon workers on March 20, highlighting the ways unions can help defend worker rights and safety protections. TRNN’s Jaisal Noor reports from the solidarity action held outside of an Amazon facility in Baltimore.

The union fight at Amazon is a fight for Black lives
With the historic union election at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, underway, we sit down with Joshua Brewer, one of the lead union organizers involved with the campaign, to talk about what a union would mean for this majority-Black community.

Amazon worker in Bessemer: ‘We gonna win’
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.

Danny Glover: Why the fight against Amazon in Bessemer matters
World-renowned actor, activist, and TRNN board member Danny Glover shares his thoughts on the historic Amazon union drive in Bessemer, Alabama, and the long tradition of labor struggle in the South.

Amazon workers demand to be treated like human beings
We sit down with Jennifer Bates, an Amazon warehouse worker in Bessemer, Alabama, to talk about working conditions at Amazon, and about the historic union drive currently underway in Bessemer.

Hammer and Hope: Danny Glover on the Amazon union drive in Bessemer, Alabama
TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez sits down with world-renowned actor, activist, and TRNN board member Danny Glover to talk about workers’ struggles and the historic union vote at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama.
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Battleground Bessemer
by TRNN, The Real News Network
March 11, 2021