Coverage of the David-and-Goliath story of a group of scrappy New York City Amazon workers defeating their corporate behemoth bosses has been streaming in in recent days. Like the city’s working class generally, immigrants comprise much of the workforce at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island — upward of 50 percent, according to some workers’ estimates. Pushing for a union was a risk for everybody involved in the unionization drive, but for non-natives, it was often doubly so. Their personal bravery, organizing ingenuity, and joyous triumph is the stuff of a Hollywood movie.

At the heart of this effort was Brima Sylla, a fifty-five-year old Liberian immigrant who works as a stower on the morning shift at JFK8. Upon joining Amazon Labor Union (ALU)’s small crew of dedicated worker organizers, Sylla quickly took a lead in coordinating their ultimately successful efforts to reach and involve immigrants. He sat down with Jacobin’s Eric Blanc to explain how they pulled it off — and what Amazon workers across the United States can learn from their experience.