The Lead Organizer for the Amazon Union Drive Has No Regrets
In an interview, the lead organizer for the Amazon union campaign in Bessemer says that the drive has built momentum to unionize Amazon despite the defeat — and that “Bezos had better not get too cocky, because them folks are pretty fired up.”
RWDSU organizers in Bessemer, Alabama. (Photo: Luiz Feliz Leon)
Everyone — including us — has published an analysis of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union’s election loss in a celebrated union drive at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. But most of us are writing from a distance, and with only a few pieces of the puzzle. What did the campaign look like from the inside?
Luis Feliz Leon of Labor Notes spoke on April 13 with Joshua Brewer, the campaign’s lead organizer, from RWDSU’s Mid-South Council. The transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Luis Feliz Leon
Let’s begin with the workers. Tell me about some of the great interactions with workers and how that informed the decision to launch this campaign.
Joshua Brewer
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