Jennifer Bates on Unionizing Amazon and Workplace Dignity | The Next Wave

Jennifer Bates doesn’t want to be treated like a machine. Last year, she helped launch a union drive for the 5,800 employees of Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. It would be the first unionized Amazon workplace, a company whose profits nearly doubled as the pandemic ravaged the country. The drive has received significant national media attention, along with nods of support from celebrities and prominent Democratic politicians, including President Biden. If the Bessemer employees vote in favor of organizing to bargain for better conditions, it will mark one of the biggest victories in the labor movement’s history.