How Two Friends Beat Amazon and Built a Union

The Daily

The New York Times

News, Daily News

4.5 • 97.8K Ratings

🗓️ 11 April 2022

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode contains strong language. A year and a half ago, the Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Karen Weise began examining labor practices at Amazon. In the process, they met Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer, two Amazon workers at a warehouse in New York, who had embarked on an improbable attempt to create the company’s first union. Last week, they did it. We sat down Mr. Smalls and Mr. Palmer to ask them how it happened. Guest: Jodi Kantor, an investigative reporter for The New York Times; and Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer, warehouse workers who led the first successful unionization attempt at Amazon.

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro.
0:04.0	This is a day like this.
0:12.0	A year and a half ago, my colleagues,
0:14.0	Jody Cantor and Karen Weiss,
0:17.0	began examining labor practices at Amazon.
0:21.0	In the process, they met two Amazon workers
0:24.0	at a warehouse in New York, Chris Smalls and Derek Palmer,
0:29.0	who had embarked on an improbable attempt
0:32.0	to create the company's first union.
0:36.0	Last week, they did it.
0:40.0	Today, I spoke with Jody, Chris and Derek
0:44.0	about how against all odds that happened.
0:49.0	It's Monday, April 11th.
1:07.0	So, Chris and Derek, this is my colleague, Michael,
1:10.0	who's the host of the day.
1:12.0	Hi, I'm Dolen.
1:13.0	I'm really grateful because I know you guys are in the middle of
1:15.0	what is perhaps the biggest moment of your life
1:18.0	that you made time to talk to us.
1:20.0	Thank you.
1:21.0	Thank you, really.
1:22.0	Is everybody good to go if we start?
	...

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