Which Side Are You Amazon?
What A Day
What A Day
4.6 • 12.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 February 2021
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amazon faces its first unionization vote in the country in seven years next week in Bessemer, Alabama, and if the workers decide to unionize, it could spark waves of action across the country.
We interviewed Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee, who led a walkout last March at a warehouse in Staten Island and was subsequently fired. He told us about his experience, his thoughts on the union push in Alabama, and what's next for essential workers.
And in headlines: Andrew Cuomo signs a bill to repeal the “walking while trans” ban in New York, Canada designates the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization, and country music’s Morgan Wallen gets dropped after using the n-word.
Show Links:
"Amazon to face first U.S. unionization vote in seven years next month"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/15/amazon-union-alabama-vote/
The Congress Of Essential Workers
Follow Christian Smalls on Twitter
https://twitter.com/Shut_downAmazon
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | It's Thursday February 4th. I'm Achila Hughes. |
| 0:09.2 | And I'm Gideon Ressick and this is what the day the official fan podcast for the people who made the Hollywood |
| 0:13.6 | Science say Hollywood. Yeah, this used to be the official fan podcast for the people who made the Hollywood |
| 0:18.4 | Science say Hollywood, but we're it's a new year. Hollywood is. Yeah, we make adjustments here. We |
| 0:24.6 | respond to the times we respond to art. On today's show a conversation with Christian Smalls who |
| 0:36.9 | is fired from Amazon last year after protesting working conditions, Benz and Hepatis. |
| 0:41.9 | Next week, Amazon will face its first unionization vote in the country in seven years in |
| 0:46.4 | Bessamer, Alabama. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board is set to mail ballots to nearly |
| 0:51.3 | six thousand workers who will then have seven weeks to decide. And if they vote yes to unionize, |
| 0:56.3 | there'll be the first Amazon warehouse in the US to do so, which could spark a larger wave around |
| 1:00.9 | the country. Yeah, and the company doesn't seem to want it to happen, which is shocking. A recent |
| 1:05.8 | story in the Washington Post detailed how Amazon has attempted to quash the effort in Alabama, |
| 1:10.0 | including anti-union flyers in bathrooms and anti-union website and required meetings on |
| 1:14.9 | company time to disparage the efforts. Workers have said that safety precautions were not sufficiently |
| 1:19.7 | taken at the beginning of the pandemic. And even beforehand, warehouse employees have said that |
| 1:23.9 | there's surveillance of productivity and little time for bathroom breaks. Some workers in the |
| 1:28.0 | warehouse in Alabama also want the company to reinstate the $2 an hour bonuses or hazard pay |
| 1:32.9 | that was suspended at the end of May. Amazon has responded to the impending Alabama vote by |
| 1:37.6 | talking up their starting salaries of 15 30 an hour and their health care and retirement plans. |
| 1:43.0 | The retail wholesale and department store union has been involved in the process and would |
| 1:46.5 | represent the Alabama workers if they vote to unionize. Yeah, and it really is a big deal that |
| 1:51.6 | it even made it to a vote, you know, given the conditions. So we wanted to get a better understanding |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from What A Day, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of What A Day and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.