The workers at the Amazon facility in Bessemer didn’t succeed in winning a union when all the votes were counted, but nevertheless the story has drawn attention to the company’s labor practices and the struggles of the workers in its facilities. This week, while we waited for the count, we teamed up with Steven Pitts of Organizing Upgrade’s Black Work Talk podcast to talk about the state of the Black working class. We were joined by Robin D.G. Kelley, author of many books you should read about social movements and labor history, but perhaps most importantly for this conversation, one of my all-time favorites: Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression (the book is currently available to download for free at the publishers’ website). Kelley is also Distinguished Professor and Gary B. Nash Endowed Chair in U.S. History at UCLA, and we invited him to discuss the historical and present conditions in Bessemer. 

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Conversation

Black Work Talk

Organizing Upgrade

The Alabama Town That Could Defeat Jeff Bezos (New Republic)

Documents Show Amazon is Aware Drives Pee in Bottles and Even Defecate en Route Despite Company Denial (Intercept)

The Amazon Union Vote Is Ending in Bessemer. Workers Are Already Preparing for the Next Fight. (New Republic)

Blowout in Bessemer: A Postmortem on the Amazon Campaign (The Nation)