Yesterday, the last ballots were cast to decide the matter of whether Amazon workers in Bessemer, AL, will unionize. Now the vote count starts, and the world is watching. Through it all, Amazon execs have rallied to shut down the union, relying on classic union-busting tactics and outright denying the workplace abuses that a union would empower workers to fight back against.
(Yes, Amazon, we all believe the peeing in bottles thing.)
The potential of an Amazon workers’ union is so vast because of the immense power that Amazon holds to exploit its workers and funnel immense wealth away from the people who create the company’s value. It’s also vast because, as Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) pointed out in a recent Twitter exchange with Bernie Sanders, an Amazon workers’ union helps to open the doors to a massive reckoning between workers and capitalists.
Meanwhile, in an article for Jacobin, Brandon Magner points out the ways that legislation like the PRO Act will transform the landscape of labor organizing, specifically identifying how the Amazon union drive in Bessemer would have faced fewer challenges under the PRO Act. If Amazon had been excluded from participation in representation proceedings, if it had been held to account for its election interference and with greater consequences, and if it had been blocked from holding captive audience meetings — among other things — the path to an Amazon union would have been quicker and easier. As it stands, the accomplishments of the union organizers in Bessemer are truly incredible, and they stand to secure essential, material protections for thousands of people.
This week, we’ll be joined by June Lapine, AKA Shoe0nHead, for a chat about the issues at the front of our minds, and we hope you’ll join us. Subscribe here for access to the Friday video content, or join us on Saturday for audio across Substack and the main streaming platforms (Spotify, Pandora, Apple Playlist, and more).
Rising introduced me to Shoe0nhead. She seems to me--like both of you (but maybe even moreso with her)--extremely good at persuading conservatives/moderates to come over to left wing politics.
I'd like to request you guys next try talking to Harvey Kaye about FDR, the founders, and progressive pressure politics throughout history. Those were some of my favorite Michael Brooks show videos. Brooks seemed to know that talking about American history could be a lot more persuasive to normie Americans compared to just comparing us to other countries or diving into policy. Everybody oughtta know that Teddy Roosevelt was the guy who came up with single payer healthcare in America, for example lol. It seems to me that the left errs on the side of using persuasion tactics that only appeal to people like them, and don't bother with other kinds that would totally move people toward their way of thinking.
Like... I have a buddy (both of us are from WV) who has taken a far left turn politically after I planted a seed by getting him a copy of The Devil is Here in These Hills--about the WV mine wars. It's not exactly rational but with human beings there's something more persuasive about it if it's kinda... your history. The rider and the elephant. There's only so much that logic can do, sometimes you gotta talk to people in a language they'll appreciate.
and another good one:
Has American Liberalism Abandoned Free Speech? Interview With Thomas Frank
The celebrated author writes an article in the Guardian opposing censorship, and is stunned by the negative response from political kindred spirits
Has American Liberalism Abandoned Free Speech? Interview With Thomas Frank - TK News by Matt Taibbi (substack.com)
Matt Taibbi March 30