From the Frontlines: Organizing Against Amazon w/ Chris Smalls and Mars Verrone

Upstream

Politics, Society & Culture, News

4.9 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 6 May 2025

⏱️ 69 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Chris Smalls had no idea the direction his life would take when he was discharged in 2020 for organizing a walk out in protest against Amazon’s safety protocols during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had no idea he was about to embark on one of the most challenging David and Goliath unionization efforts of our century.

In this episode, we speak with Chris Smalls, the founder and a former president of the Amazon Labor Union, or ALU, as well as Mars Verrone, a filmmaker, musician, and educator from Los Angeles who recently produced the documentary film, Union, following Chris and the other organizers in their fight for better working conditions at Amazon. We hear the origin story of the Amazon Labor Union, learn about the internal and external challenges faced by Amazon labor organizers, and explore a broader view of the union movement and its crucial role in advocating for systemic change. Chris and Mars also talk about the importance of unions in today’s political landscape—especially under the Trump Administration—and the significance of this year's May Day and its resonance for workers around the world fighting for justice, dignity, and a post-capitalist future.

This episode was sponsored by EcoGather, an experimental educational project focused on heterodox economics, collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. As EcoGather's active phase comes to a close its self-paced online courses are being made freely available at www.ecogather.ing and its vibrant community is reconvening in a new organization called otherWise. Find out more at www.otherwise.one.

Further Resources

Union: A Documentary Film
Request a Screening
Follow Union on social media @unionthefilm
Amazon Labor Union
Donate to Amazon Labor Union
Congress of Essential Workers
DegrowNYC
Film Workers for Palestine

Related Episodes:

Intermission music: "You Are Not a Number" Original score for Union by Robert Aiki and Aubrey Lowe

Upstream is a labor of love—we couldn't keep this project going without the generosity of our listeners and fans. Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/upstreampodcast or please consider chipping in a one-time or recurring donation at www.upstreampodcast.org/support

If your organization wants to sponsor one of our upcoming documentaries, we have a number of sponsorship packages available. Find out more at upstreampodcast.org/sponsorship

For more from Upstream, visit www.upstreampodcast.org and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky. You can also subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode of Upstream is sponsored by EcoGather, an experimental educational project focused on heterodox economics,
0:08.1	collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. As EcoGather's active phase comes to a close,
0:15.5	its self-paced online courses are being made freely available at ecogather.iNG, and its vibrant community
0:24.1	is reconvening in a new organization called Otherwise.
0:28.5	Find out more at www. otherwise spends millions of dollars in union-busting efforts, anywhere between 10 to 20 million in the fiscal year,
1:04.7	what spent on us, and also in previous election campaigns, especially Alabama.
1:10.2	They spent about 25 million to stop that black worker led effort as well.
1:15.6	And, you know, externally, Amazon, of course, they used the police.
1:21.6	The NYPD was their best friend during their campaign.
1:24.6	The film shows y'all, me and some of the organizers being arrested
1:28.3	once, but actually they probably called the police on us over 30 times throughout the year.
1:33.3	Not only the police, but they used the fire department. They showed up on us a few times.
1:39.3	The landowners, the fire department, we're battling the union busters every day. We heard it all and seen it all.
1:47.2	You're listening to Upstream. Upstream. Upstream. Upstream. A show about political economy and society
1:55.0	that invites you to unlearn everything you thought you knew about the world around you. I'm Robert Raymond. And I'm Della Duncan.
2:03.2	Chris Smalls had no idea the direction his life would take when he was discharged in 2020
2:09.0	for organizing a walkout in protest against Amazon's safety protocols during the early stages of the
2:16.1	COVID-19 pandemic. He had no idea he was about to embark early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2:23.8	He had no idea he was about to embark on one of the most challenging David and Goliath unionization efforts of our century.
2:26.9	In this episode, we speak with Chris Smalls, the founder and former president of the Amazon
2:32.4	Labor Union, or ALU, as well as Mars Verone,
2:36.7	a filmmaker, musician, and educator from Los Angeles, who recently produced the documentary
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Upstream, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Upstream and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.