Rally held in Arlington to support Amazon worker's union drive in Bessemer, Alabama

On the 20th of February, supporters of Amazon workers seeking to unionize and get a living wage gathered in a series of solidarity rallies at or near Amazon facilities across the US. One of these was in Crystal City Arlington, where Amazon is setting up part of their "HQ2" second headquarters split between Arlington and Nashville.

Other DC/MD/VA area protests included a car caravan in Baltimore and a protest at a Whole Foods(owned by Amazon) in Silver Spring, MD plus two actions in Virginia, one of them schedules for later in the day at another Amazon warehouse or "fulfillment center" in Clear Brook, VA

A successful campaign to unionize Amazon could be the biggest sea change in US labor conditions since the UAW succeeded in unionizing Ford over extreme resistance from Henry Ford, who was a notorious Hitler sympathizer as well as being militantly anti-union. Today, Jeff Bezos would probably not hesitate to order workers to kiss covid itself if it would get packages out the door five minutes faster.

From the promo for the rally:

Amazon is the second-largest corporation in the United States, headed by Jeff Bezos, the second-richest person in the world. Intolerable working conditions at Amazon warehouses, along with the company’s refusal to adopt measures to protect workers from COVID 19, have pushed Amazon workers everywhere to fight back.

Between Feb. 8 and March 29, approximately 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, will begin voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU). In addition to fighting for themselves, these predominantly Black workers are also standing up to the racist, anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South.

These courageous workers deserve our support. On Saturday, Feb. 20, solidarity actions will take place across the country at Amazon facilities (warehouses, distribution centers, Whole Foods, etc.) A list of actions is posted here: https://southernworker.org/amazon. We strongly encourage our readers to support these actions.