A Union Drive at Amazon

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 April 2021

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Since its earliest days, Amazon has been anti-union, successfully quashing any attempt by workers to organize. A group of workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., just might change that — depending on the outcome of a vote this week. We look at how their effort came together and what it means for the nature of work in savvy, growing companies like Amazon.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, it's almost over, I guess. Yeah, just a few more days.
0:03.2	Yes, it is. And I think the butterflies have extended.
0:08.4	They're getting worse or they're getting... they're starting to calm down.
0:12.8	No, they're getting worse.
0:14.8	Because we get... seems like my stomach is feeling up more with butterflies.
0:18.8	I can imagine. I can imagine.
0:23.8	From New York Times, I'm Michael O'Baro.
0:26.2	This is a day like...
0:33.2	Today...
0:35.2	When a small group of workers in Besamer, Alabama tried to create a union inside an Amazon fulfillment center,
0:44.2	they took on the most powerful company in retail.
0:48.2	In the coming days, they'll find out whether they or Amazon have prevailed.
0:55.2	My colleague, Shira Frankel, spoke with business reporter Michael Corquery
1:00.2	about the most closely watched labor battle in the country.
1:15.2	It's Thursday, April 1st.
1:19.2	Michael, when did you first hear about the plant to unionize an Amazon plant in Besamer, Alabama?
1:29.2	I first heard about this plant probably mid to early September.
1:34.2	I kind of stumbled upon it. I was talking to some labor organizers for another story
1:39.2	and one of them mentioned that there was this effort underway to organize this warehouse down there.
1:46.2	I jatted with them a little bit. It sounded like it was very early.
1:51.2	They had started a website for workers to check out. I checked out the website.
1:56.2	At that point, knowing what I know about Amazon, I thought, okay, good luck with that.
	...

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