Danny Glover on Amazon Workers’ Struggle to Organize in Alabama
Legendary actor and longtime progressive activist Danny Glover was recently in Bessemer, Alabama, supporting workers’ efforts to organize a union there. In an interview, Glover talks about what brought him to Bessemer, his own labor history, and why the Amazon workers’ “struggle has significance for all of us.”
Danny Glover in Hollywood, California, 2019. (Axelle / Bauer-Griffin / FilmMagic)
One of the most historic union votes of our era is underway right now: fifty-eight hundred workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, are currently voting on whether or not to unionize with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If the vote is successful, workers at the Bessemer facility will become the first unionized Amazon workforce in the United States. After the National Labor Relations Board dismissed Amazon’s motions to delay the union vote, ballots were sent to workers in early February, and the vote counting will begin on March 29.
On February 22, world-renowned actor and activist Danny Glover came to Bessemer to show support for Amazon workers and their struggle to form a union. The Real News Network’s editor-in-chief Maximillian Alvarez sat down with Glover to talk about why this vote is so significant and how Amazon workers in Bessemer, most of whom are black, are part of a long tradition of labor struggle in the South.
The Real News Network will continue its in-depth coverage of the historic union vote in Bessemer throughout March. You can follow that coverage on their website, YouTube channel, and podcasts.
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