Amazon Is Afraid Of Its New Union Organizers

On this week’s episode of Lever Time, producer Frank Cappello and reporter Amos Barshad are joined by union organizers Griffin Ritze and Fatou Souare, who are both involved in a current union drive at an Amazon warehouse in Kentucky. Griffin, an Amazon employee who was recently fired as alleged retaliation, and Fatou, a local community leader with the Kentucky African Women’s Association, speak to The Lever about the unique challenges of organizing a large, diverse workforce in one of Amazon’s largest locations — and what their efforts mean for the larger fight ahead against Amazon.

In 2022, workers at Amazon’s KCVG air hub kicked off their union drive, seeking increased pay, inclusionary policies for non-Native English speakers, and stronger workplace protections. Due to the size and diversity of KCVG’s workforce, local community groups have also gotten involved. In response, Amazon is apparently doing everything in their power to crush the union effort, including hiring union-busting law firms to hold “captive audience” meetings. 

In today’s interview, Frank and Amos speak with Griffin and Fatou about the unique challenges of organizing the Amazon hub, the different union-busting tactics the company employs, and how groups like the Kentucky African Women’s Association are working to educate and empower the community.

A transcript of this episode is available here.

Links:

• Amazon Labor Union, Northern Kentucky KCVG

BONUS: Last week’s bonus episode of Lever Time Premium, exclusively for The Lever’s supporting subscribers, featured David Sirota’s conversation with media strategist Jason Kint about how Facebook’s parent company Meta is trying to protect the money it makes from harvesting kids’ user data.

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