Actor Danny Glover Rallies Support For Unionizing Bessemer Amazon Facility
Danny Glover speaks to reporters about his support for employees looking to unionize at Amazon's warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.
Actor and activist Danny Glover visited with organizers outside the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. Monday evening in support of their unionization effort.
“This moment is part of a continuous struggle in the making of this country, in the making of the South – in the remaking of the South,” Glover said. “These workers are part of a legacy.”
Some 5,800 Amazon employees at the Bessemer facility started voting by mail on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union on Feb. 8. If a majority votes yes, the Bessemer warehouse would be the first Amazon facility in the U.S. to unionize. Voting will continue until March 29.
Glover is best known for leading roles in films, such as “The Color Purple” and “Lethal Weapon.” He’s also an activist who’s pushed for reform on multiple issues, including mass incarceration, poverty and labor rights.
Few workers were in attendance at the event outside of the warehouse, but Glover exchanged a few words with employees exiting the lot.
Employees at the facility want more say in working conditions and how people get disciplined or fired, RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum told NPR.
Amazon has publicly opposed the unionization effort, arguing that most workers don’t want to join the union and that pay is already far above the state’s minimum wage. This is the first effort to unionize an Amazon facility since a failed attempt in Delaware seven years ago.
In 2017, Glover joined a march in Canton, Miss. in support of autoworkers at a Nissan assembly plant who were seeking to form a union and alleged they faced intimidation tactics. Glover was joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson. Nissan disputed the allegations, and the union vote failed.
Glover said the Nissan unionization push and the current effort in Bessemer are part of one long struggle for labor rights.
“We’re on the backs of those who had come, right here in Alabama, before us,” Glover said. “Whenever there’s a victory there’s an opportunity to extend that victory.”
Union organizers have accused Amazon of trying to disrupt their effort to rally support for unionization, including changing traffic lights near the warehouse to make it more difficult for the organizers to recruit other workers in the parking lot.
Jefferson County Spokeswoman Helen Hayes initially denied that the county had changed the light, before later correcting herself to say the county had altered the traffic light patterns – she says she was working with incomplete information in her earlier statement.
The county said Amazon requested the lights to be changed because it was causing delays during shift changes.
Sunday Puzzle: Rhyme Time
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with WBUR listener Laurie Rose and Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.
Alcaraz beats Djokovic to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam
The 22-year-old Spaniard's win against 38-year-old rival Novak Djokovic at Sunday's Australian Open makes him the youngest male player to win all four major tournaments.
You already know the song — now, ‘The One About the Blackbird’ is also a picture book
In The One About the Blackbird, a young boy learns to play guitar from his grandfather. And there's one song in particular that they love…
At a clown school near Paris, failure is the lesson
For decades, students at the Ecole Philippe Gaulier have been paying to bomb onstage. The goal isn't laughs — it's learning how to take the humiliation and keep going.
In the world’s driest desert, Chile freezes its future to protect plants
Tucked away in a remote desert town, a hidden vault safeguards Chile's most precious natural treasures. From long-forgotten flowers to endangered crops.
Iran’s supreme leader warns any US attack would spark ‘regional war’
Iran's supreme leader warned Sunday that any attack by the United States would spark a "regional war" in the Mideast, further escalating tensions as President Donald Trump has threatened to militarily strike the Islamic Republic.
