From the Frontlines: Organizing Against Amazon w/ Chris Smalls and Mars Verrone

Chris Smalls had no idea the direction his life would take when he was discharged in 2020 for organizing a walk out in protest against Amazon’s safety protocols during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had no idea he was about to embark on one of the most challenging David and Goliath unionization efforts of our century. 

In this episode, we speak with Chris Smalls, the founder and a former president of the Amazon Labor Union, or ALU, as well as Mars Verrone, a filmmaker, musician, and educator from Los Angeles who recently produced the documentary film, Union, following Chris and the other organizers in their fight for better working conditions at Amazon. We hear the origin story of the Amazon Labor Union, learn about the internal and external challenges faced by Amazon labor organizers, and explore a broader view of the union movement and its crucial role in advocating for systemic change. Chris and Mars also talk about the importance of unions in today’s political landscape—especially under the Trump Administration—and the significance of this year's May Day and its resonance for workers around the world fighting for justice, dignity, and a post-capitalist future. 

This episode was sponsored by EcoGather, an experimental educational project focused on heterodox economics, collective action, and belonging in an enlivened world. As EcoGather's active phase comes to a close its self-paced online courses are being made freely available at www.ecogather.ing and its vibrant community is reconvening in a new organization called otherWise. Find out more at www.otherwise.one.

Further Resources

• Union: A Documentary Film
• Request a Screening 
• Follow Union on social media @unionthefilm
• Amazon Labor Union
• Donate to Amazon Labor Union
• Congress of Essential Workers
• DegrowNYC
• Film Workers for Palestine

Related Episodes:

• International Workers' Day w/ John from Working Class History
• Technofeudalism w/ Yanis Varoufakis
• Prefigurative Politics and Workplace Democracy w/ Saio Gradin and Nicole Wires
• Our ongoing From the Frontline series
• International Workers' Day w/ John from Working Class History

Intermission music: "You Are Not a Number" Original score for Union by Robert Aiki and Aubrey Lowe

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