What A Day - Which Side Are You Amazon?

Episode Date: February 4, 2021

Amazon faces its first unionization vote in the country in seven years next week in Bessemer, Alabama, and if the workers decide to unionize, it could spark waves of action across the country.We interviewed Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee, who led a walkout last March at a warehouse in Staten Island and was subsequently fired. He told us about his experience, his thoughts on the union push in Alabama, and what's next for essential workers.And in headlines: Andrew Cuomo signs a bill to repeal the “walking while trans” ban in New York, Canada designates the Proud Boys as a terrorist organization, and country music’s Morgan Wallen gets dropped after using the n-word.Show Links:"Amazon to face first U.S. unionization vote in seven years next month"https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/01/15/amazon-union-alabama-vote/The Congress Of Essential Workershttps://tcoew.org/Follow Christian Smalls on Twitterhttps://twitter.com/Shut_downAmazon

It's Thursday, February 4th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What A Day, the official fan podcast for the people who made the Hollywood sign say Hollyboob. Yeah, this used to be the official fan podcast for the people who made the Hollywood sign say Hollyweed, but it's a new year. Hollyboob it is. Yeah, we make adjustments here. We respond to the times. We respond to art. On today's show, a conversation with Christian Smalls, who was fired from Amazon last year after protesting working conditions. Then some headlines.

Next week, Amazon will face its first unionization vote in the country in seven years in Bessemer, Alabama. On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board is set to mail ballots to nearly 6,000 workers who will then have seven weeks to decide. And if they vote yes to unionize, they'll be the first Amazon warehouse in the U.S. to do so, which could spark a larger wave around the country. Yeah, and the company doesn't seem to want it to happen, which is shocking. A recent story in the Washington Post detailed how Amazon has attempted to quash the effort in Alabama, including anti-union flyers in bathrooms, an anti-union website, and required meetings on company time to disparage the efforts. Workers have said that safety precautions were not sufficiently taken at the beginning of the pandemic. And even beforehand, warehouse employees have said that there's surveillance of productivity

and little time for bathroom breaks. Some workers in the warehouse in Alabama also want the company to reinstate the $2 an hour bonuses or hazard pay that was suspended at the end of May. Amazon has responded to the impending Alabama vote by talking up their starting salaries of $15.30 an hour and their healthcare and retirement plans.

The retail, wholesale, and department store union has been involved in the process and would represent the Alabama workers if they vote to unionize. Yeah, and it really is a big deal that it even made it to a vote, you know, given the conditions. So we wanted to get a better understanding of what it's like to work in an Amazon warehouse and what it's like to stand up for yourself at that company. Christian Smalls is someone we've been following for a while. He was a supervisor at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island and led an organized walkout last March calling for more COVID protections for the employees. He was fired afterwards for what the company said was violating their quarantine policy by coming to work to protest. Days later, a leaked memo revealed that Amazon executives discussed him and how to counter bad press, including notes that called Smalls,

quote, not smart or articulate. We asked him about that, plus his continued work to organize for better protections and pay for essential workers. Here's our conversation. So let's start with the walkout last March. You know, how were you feeling heading into work that day to do this protest? And what was really going on at work leading up to that? Yeah, sure. I can talk about that. And, you know, before that day, leading up to that day, I was actually off the clock the entire week, you know, advocating. And after going back and forth the entire week with the general management of the building, trying to get some results for the workers

as far as protections, PPE, cleaning supplies, and for the building to be closed for positive cases being in the building, they decided to quarantine me days before the actual protests on March 30th. So I knew, and I think others recognized the fact that I was raising concerns, so they tried to silence me and I had to take the further action by holding a protest on March 30th and I could tell you now that day was so I live about 15 minutes away from that building and that day was probably the longest ride ever I you know I had anxiety you know emotions I was definitely nervous and scared because I didn't expect that much media attention.

I wanted some attention, but didn't expect the outcome that I had. And I just was trying to do the right thing. And I felt that way then, and I still feel that way now. Yeah. So you're talking about heading in, having the stress. You knew that some reporters and things were going to be there, but then all of a sudden it's like, oh, shit, this is a huge event. What did you think when you saw it? Like, how did you respond? Yeah, when I was riding up to the building that day, you know, I knew things were real when I seen the helicopter flying over my head. I didn't expect all that media attention.

I was like a sea of reporters, cameras, vans. And, you know, I really didn't expect it. But that's what I seen that day. I will never forget that that picture in my head, you know, seeing all the media that was out there. And we did what we had to do. You know, we wanted to uplift the voices of the workers. Workers walked out. They went to the reporters. They told their stories of what they're experiencing. As a result, here we are 10 months later. We're still out here fighting for

that. Yeah. And then Amazon, of course, fired you after the protest saying that it was because you had violated quarantine by coming to work. And you and many others have argued that the firing was retaliatory, which I think makes sense. How did the whole ordeal and the company response impact your view of Amazon? Well, yeah, you know, the company said that and for obvious reasons, it was definitely hurtful that they did that right after a protest two hours later. And then a week later, you know, finding out that Jeff Bezos himself and his top general VPs in the company had a smear campaign on me to call me not smart or articulate. That right there was really the tipping point for me to continue my fight against the company and continue uplifting voices of Amazon workers.

So that's what I did. I founded this organization and we've been doing that ever since. So what was your reaction to that sort of reporting and the company's counsel speaking about you in a derogatory way? This is a company that was run by a man who could have afforded to pay everyone fair wages and protected everyone. And instead they chose to spend that money on legal teams who would just, you know, deride you and say that you're not the person who should be speaking about any of this. So what is that like to have this Goliath, you know, hitting back? Well, yeah, you know, when I found out it was, it kind of took me some time to like really digest it, you know, because it was a lot going on. And I remember seeing that

report come out. And when I looked at it, I was kind of confused at first. I'm like, this is really Jeff Bezos in this meeting with his top general counsel. So I was taken back by it and then ultimately discussed it, you know, because this is a Black stigma in the Black community, you know, saying that we're not smart or articulate to even communicate or tell our truth, which was my truth. You know, that's just a shame that this, this company that I basically poured my blood, sweat, and tears into for four and a half years, didn't even know who they, who I was, you know, who I was as a worker. I opened up three major buildings for them. I trained hundreds of their management, thousands of their workers. And I was definitely a worker. I opened up three major buildings for them. I trained hundreds of their management,

thousands of their workers, and I was definitely respected, well-respected in the company. So for them to just outright say that I'm not smart or articulate definitely felt disheartening and disgusted, actually. But that really motivated me. It motivated me to continue to fight. And that's exactly what I plan on doing. Well, it feels like, you know, that event and your courage into saying like, enough, we're going to protest. It seems like that all changed your career path. You've now founded an organization called the Congress of Essential Workers, which is awesome. So can you talk about the group and what you've been pushing for so far?

Absolutely. Yeah. So this, the past nine months, we've been traveling the country to Jeff Bezos residence. We started in New York city at his $80 million mansion. We went down to Washington, DC. We went out to his $165 million mansion in Beverly Hills. We also went to Seattle to the Amazon headquarters. And collectively, it's a group, an organization full of Amazon workers, current or former, some essential workers from different companies. And we're just out here trying to, once again, uplift our voices, have our demands heard, and also galvanize the 1% tax on the billionaires, starting with Jeff Bezos, and definitely put a pressure on congressmen and women in office and

elected officials because we're unprotected out here. The unionization of Amazon is diminished in this country. And right now we have a vote on the table and we're hoping that we have some good news to galvanize workers. So the Congress of Essential Workers is just trying to be a catalyst for that. And there's currently this effort to unionize at an Amazon facility in Alabama. Have you been in touch with anyone down there

and how hopeful are you right now for its success? Yes, so members from my organization have definitely been in contact with the union previously. We can't really say too much details about it, but we definitely stand in solidarity with that union and with the Amazon workers of Alabama. Amazon has done some, they're normal union busting tactics, but they've done some extraordinary things as well, posting up signs, surveilling meetings, trying to corner our workers and ask them tough questions about unionizing. So these are things that they're well prepared for, from my knowledge, and I think the workers are in good spirits. And I hope that we have some good news to once again

galvanize the workers all across the nation. And during your time working for them, did you experience some of those similar things? I've seen, you know, bathroom flyers and this checking of when people are going to the bathroom and all this surveillance. Is that a commonplace occurrence? Well, yeah, I was a supervisor, so I was actually a part of it. I was a part of the machine. I had to be the one to track people's productivity from the time they clock in to the time they clock out. And I didn't like that part of it because I felt that I came from that part. I came from the entry level, so I knew what these

workers were going through. So for those who worked around me and worked for me, they can tell you that I wasn't the one that was going to ever put their job in jeopardy. I stood with the workers when I worked there. And that's probably the reason why they never wanted to promote me up to a management level, because, you know, I will always side with the workers, which is fine. But once again, that's just a part of my character. And I'm just trying to carry that over into the activism work that I'm doing now. Yeah. I mean, you know, just to go back to the Alabama, you know, push for unionization, you know, what would it mean for workers across the country at all of the different Amazon warehouses, you know, and perhaps elsewhere if the union push was successful there? It would be definitely a historical day. This is this will be the first building in U.S. history. And this will be great news because now it gives workers the courage to stand up and fight back

and build worker place committees in their work facilities. And that's what I hope. I hope that Alabama, in a sense, they roll tide and they roll tide across the nation. I hope that this will be the catalyst that'll galvanize workers to say, hey, it's possible that we can unionize and now negotiate a contract that is beneficial for workers more so than putting profits above the people. So this will be great news for us. Well, Chris, thank you so than putting profits above the people. So this is great news for us. Well, Chris, thank you so much again for taking the time to talk to us. Really great to have you on. Yeah, we appreciate it. Thank you. Anytime. We've put some links in our show notes to learn more about the union push in Alabama and the Congress of Essential Workers. But that's the latest for now.

It's Thursday, WOD Squad, and today we're talking about the first round of award nominations in the fake year that was 2020, the Golden Globes. The list came out yesterday with Netflix's Mank scoring the highest with six nominations, Promising Young Woman getting four, and Three Women tapped for Best Director in a category where only five women have ever been nominated before. There were also snubs like Spike Lee's Defy Bloods and Michaela Cole's I May Destroy You. Both of those got totally shut out.

So Giddy, what stood out to you about the nominations? I think what you said definitely did stand out because after your recommendation of i may destroy you i think that's still probably the best thing i saw overall over the course of last year um so that seems kind of crazy and then delroy lindo in defy Bloods, I thought, got totally robbed. And the person that got one of the nominations over him was Jared Leto in the new Denzel movie on HBO, which if you haven't seen it, have you watched it? I saw part of it. I will say I did not. I didn't make it. You know, some movies aren't meant to be finished Jared Leto does something uh extremely

specific in this movie with his performance that is bizarre and probably worth seeing but not justifying for an award over Lindo um but the other yeah I mean the other ones that that uh were really cool um Emerald Fennel for Promising Young Woman. That's great. Regina King. Also, I'm very excited to see that movie. You watched that one, right? Yeah. Killer. One Night in Miami.

Gotta check it out. What else? I like the Borat love. That's cool. Yeah. That's kind of an interesting choice, but also what movies came out. I still stand by my decision

to have a Christmas category if I ever have an awards show this year because those were the movies that came out like i i still stand by my decision to like have a christmas category if i ever have an awards show this year because i'm like those were the movies that came out they were all christmas films it was all hallmark all the time yeah yeah yeah so no i mean i think it it's it's weird it's hard to judge it because it's like it it isn't like stuff that people can just remember at the drop of a hat um but you know some, some good. Oh, Chadwick Boseman also. Unbelievable in Ma Rainey. So that's great.

And also very sad that he wouldn't be there to accept the award he's probably going to get. But anyway, I'm prattling. Same question. What was your overall vibe with this? You know, you covered most of my feelings. But the one thing that I keep thinking about all day, it's Emily it's emily and paris overrepresented throughout it is if it's a comedy it was lost on me you know i also feel like it's a show that uh you know similar vein and maybe the same

production company as younger which is a show that people actually like that was on tv land it has like at least five seasons oh yeah that show was never nominated so why and if they were nominated please correct me i know you all will but the truth is like emily and paris is actually like the least funny show i've ever seen um i also think that like lily collins you know she was she's been in other projects that I think maybe showed some acting talent. This one wasn't it for me. Beautiful gowns, as Aretha Franklin would say. Gowns,

great gowns, beautiful gowns. That's good defense there. Good defense and good offense. I didn't watch it, so I truly, I remember this being a thing that people were just perplexed about for a couple of days. Totally.

Seeming like they didn't understand why people were excited and praising this show. Right, I mean, the truth is we are in a content hole right now. And so I think that all of the good things that didn't get nominated are raising question marks and all the bad things that did. I'm like, really? Really?

You should have just nominated old seasons of Mad Men. If this is how we're going to go, like just do that. Simpsons season seven, put it on the scoreboard. Might as well. People were probably watching it. Right.

Best of Golden Globes next time. Okay. Next pandemic. Best of don't do whatever was coming out that year. Cause clearly you all aren't paying attention. But just like that, we have checked our temps. They're a little heated because, like, come on, guys. Don't snub Michaela Cole.

That's stupid. Well, stay safe and we'll be back after some ads. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. Some recent updates on the military coup in Myanmar. After detaining members of the elected NDL party earlier this week, the military police came up with seemingly random charges to assign to the most prominent members. They're charging party leader Aung San Suu Kyi with owning illegally imported walkie-talkies. This charge can apparently lead to two years in

prison. Wow. The president is also being charged for breaking COVID laws by meeting people on the campaign trail. Around 400 members of the NDL are currently being kept in a guest house at the Capitol with no public charges so far. In meanwhile, civilians across the country are protesting the coup using a red ribbon as a symbol of resistance against the military. Healthcare workers across the country formed a united front, saying they won't work under the military's regime. Workers at government clinics are going on strike and volunteering for charity health clinics that provide free healthcare. And if you want to hear more about what's unfolding in Myanmar, tune into this week's Pod Save the World, which will be covering the story more. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Tuesday to repeal a controversial state law commonly known as the Walking While Trans ban.

The statute was created in 1976 with the goal of prohibiting loitering for the purpose of prostitution, but many critics pointed out that the law was used by officers to stop and frisk trans people of color. Police reportedly used the law to arrest trans New Yorkers for things like wearing a skirt or waving at a car. Data from the city revealed that around 90% of people arrested under the law were black and Latinx. That's a steep number. Well, in 2016, an organization representing trans women of color who were wrongly arrested under the law sued the city, which ultimately led to a settlement and a revision of the NYPD's patrol guide. Local district attorneys had also voluntarily stopped prosecuting cases

connected to the law. Yeah, good riddance to that. Canada's big-hearted lumberjack hospitality no longer extends to Proud Boys, as the country officially designated the far-right hate group a terrorist organization yesterday. This move will let Canada turn away members of the Proud Boys at the border, take down their internet postings, and penalize anyone who handles their property or finances. Tight. And it puts pressure on the White House to make a call about Proud Boys and their proud peers. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday that the Biden team is evaluating what actions to take against the Proud Boys given the group's role in the January 6th Capitol insurrection. One complicating factor is that the U.S. has no formal method of designating

domestic groups as terrorist organizations, so a new legal mechanism would have to be created. Some civil rights groups are wary of this approach, saying that the FBI already has the tools it needs to fight extremism, and increases in surveillance and state power have historically had the greatest impact on communities of color. Yesterday, country star Morgan Wallen proved you can have a number one album and a very bright future and still not have the things celebrities truly need. A voice in their head that says, don't be racist. Wallen was filmed this weekend using the hard R N word while saying goodbye to his friends.

After TMZ released the clip Tuesday night, Wallen's music was pulled from thousands of radio stations across the country and his label suspended him indefinitely. In Wallen's apology, because of course there was one, he said, quote, I use an unacceptable and inappropriate racial slur I wish I could take back. Okay, fine, we'll let you take this one back. But not the thousands of other times you probably said it as practice while preparing for your on-video racial slur debut. Moving over to the right side of country music history, singer T.J. Osbourne of the band Brothers Osbourne came out yesterday, making him the first and only openly gay man signed to a major country label. Good reminder that sometimes telling the world who you are is a brave and powerful act, and other times you're Morgan Wallen. Yeah, I don't even know who this guy is. I'm just going to be honest, but sounds like he sucks really bad.

He can kick rocks, especially this Black History Month. And those are the headlines. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, nominate us for a Golden Globe, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just curse words on the Hollywood sign like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes.

I'm Gideon Resnick. And we'll see you in Hollyboob. You made it. You qualified. If you can make it in Hollyboob, you can make it anywhere. That's what they always say. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tan is our assistant producer.

Our head writer is John Milstein, and our executive producers are Katie Long, Akilah Hughes, and me. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.