June 16, 2022 • 33 mins
Senator Turner connects with dynamic leader, Chris Smalls (@chris.smalls_), president of The @amazonlaborunion. These two amplify the mighty power community and grassroots organizations can have in the fight for what’s right. Listen and learn! #solidarityforever #HelloSomebody!
Links:
Chris Smalls
https://www.amazonlaborunion.org/
https://www.instagram.com/chris.smalls_/
www.twitter.com/Shut_downAmazon
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Turning, Turning Somebody. Welcome to Hello Somebody, a production of
(00:28):
The Black Effect Podcast Network and I Heart Media. Where
we rage against the machine, where we raise our voices
against injustice and stand up for justice. Where we embrace
hope and joy with an optimism for a bright or
more justus future. Each week I'll be dropping knowledge, whether
(00:48):
it's a solo episode from me or a hearty discussion
with esteem guests doing great things in spaces and places
of politics, entertainment, social justice, and beyond. We get real, baby,
I mean really real. We get honest, We get up
close and personal for you, Yes, you, because everybody is somebody.
(01:15):
Before we begin, I want to give a special shout
out to my team. Thank you, sim Tiffany Sam and
the team over at Good Juju Studios, Erica, England, Pepper Chambers,
the Hot One, and my social media team. There is always,
and I mean always, a time in history when a courageous,
(01:39):
unapologetic and bowls soul sees that some ship needs to
change and that heroic soul steps up without equivocation. I
don't think people get the whole picture or fully understand
the bravery it takes for a person or a group
of people to stand up a against corrupting forces, against
(02:02):
corporate giants, against hell, just standing up to anybody that
may be bigger than them physically and financially. Well, I
must say that every body eventually has its day, and today,
in this very historic moment, I have with me the
one and only Mr Chris Small's president of Amazon Labor Union,
(02:27):
and he saw and stepped up against those giants. I
want to call him a giant killer because that's what
he did. He slay them giants, and they don't know
what to do with themselves. He was bold enough and
brave enough and courageous enough to say enough is enough.
So we're gonna get into this. Christian, how are you, Darler?
Thank you, thank you so much. Oh it's my pleasure.
(02:51):
I'm so happy to have you on this show. I've
been watching you and following you, and you're fighting as
most people know. And there may be some people new
to listen to I love somebody or even some people
new to both meeting you and myself, but I want
them to know that you took a very painful moment
in your life. Well, I'm jumping the gun, but being fire.
(03:11):
You're gonna tell this story. But you took a painful
moment in your life and you turned it into something magnificent.
And I know that a lot of people want to
know what was the force behind motivating you taking a
moment in your life that could have set somebody else
off in a different path, meaning that they just gave
up totally because of the mammoth on the other side
(03:34):
of this fight. What happened and what motivated you to
keep pushing? Yeah, well, it was definitely the pandemic. It
was a life of death situation going on in the country,
in the world, and Amazon and along with other industries
had as deemed as essential workers as you know, and
(03:54):
to be deemed as an essential worker and not treated
as such. Um. But for years on years and working
at this company, I just couldn't take it anymore, especially
when it came to COVID night team watching, my associates,
my former colleagues, people that work underneath me coming the
building every day without Ppe getting sick one by one
(04:15):
of the domino effect right in front of me. I
couldn't just stand there and be complacent about the situation
if I had to take action, So that led me
to do so. I'm old enough to remember when we
did call workers such as Amazon workers. I remember the
word being spread that Amazon workers save Christmas. You know,
it's kind of like a little joke, but it was
true that because of the onslaught of the pandemic in
(04:39):
a lot of people couldn't get out the way that
they would usually do if they celebrate the holiday and
they shop. And it was Amazon workers of all all
the levels within the warehouse, the people who drive the trucks,
the people who pack all of that, you all really
save Christmas. And people were appreciative. I know, folks can
not necessarily see my air quotes right now, But then
(05:00):
all of a sudden that was lost. You had a
whole bunch of political leaders and business leaders singing your praises,
and then all of a sudden people acted like essential workers,
like Amazon workers, grocery store workers, medical workers, you know,
the kinds of workers that all the rest of us
needed to be able to carry on our lives. Amazon
(05:21):
was very much a part of that. And then all
of a sudden there was no praise and no uplift
for essential workers at all. Do you think that we
are too quick to forget because we are such an
instant society we see it today. And then we move
on to the next what is it about no longer
seeing both Amazon workers and also your counterparts and other
(05:41):
industries as essentials. And then my last point to this
question not just saying the words essential, but treating you
as though you are essential. Yeah, I think much of
the economy starting to get that rolling the tension away
from the issues in this country, which starts in the
window in the media as well, not just but the
labor movement, but with every every movement, the social justice,
(06:04):
environmental you know, women's rights, the war, everything that's taking
place in this country. You know, media gets dragged in
several different directions, so it was easy for our stories,
our voices to get buried. And that was my also
ulship of mind to keep our story and our voices alive,
just my you know, continue to put in the work
in and do demonstrations across the country to amplify our voices.
(06:26):
And then when it came time to unionize, we had
to change course a little bit, change up our strategy.
We had to definitely reach out for community support and
in return, we realized that it was divided in and
uh and we didn't really have that that option. We
have the resources, are the established unions behind us. We
had to do a real grass roots and that's how
(06:48):
we had to beat Amazon. We had to bring it
into the warehouse, connect with the co workers, let them
know the issues of what's going on, and really build
and earned trust with them. Otherwise you've never got it done.
And what lessons did you learn? I mean, you were
forced into that grassrooms position. Obviously you would have loved
to have had the support of larger, more established unions.
(07:09):
But since you found yourself being pretty much on your own,
you and the rest of the people who believe in
your calls, what are some of the lessons that you
learned in this tumultuous process. What I definitely learned is, Uh,
it doesn't matter the amount of money, the millions of
dollars that the company spent against us, doesn't matter about
their union busses meaning the building seven, It doesn't matter
(07:32):
what they can do. When the power of the people
come together, and when we all come together, we can
defeat anything. And that's exactly what this campaign provement is
that ordinary people from all different backgrounds, ethnicities can come
together and defeat what we call Goliath, and you know,
we want to continue to amplify that on the national scale.
(07:54):
Here in dek Stat Island that's just one building, and
there's several other campaigns that are still taking place. Of course,
investment Alabama. We want to make sure that you know
we're gonna take care of all across the country. You know,
even in Ohio, this work is reaching out to us.
We've been contacted by every building in the country since
we won. And I just think right now we're part
(08:15):
of a really bigger revolution when it comes to Amazon work.
It's just like Starbucks. Now you really are Chris and
just all those who are fighting to just even unionize,
and you had like this burst I think in one
in particular, where you saw a lot of our sisters
and brothers and family and friends who are already unionized,
(08:37):
really fighting and pushing for better wages, better work conditions,
and better benefits. John Deer comes to mind. There were
nurses that were on strike during that time. There were
teachers that were striking. It was Baker's you know, from
the Bakers Union. Just the onslought of those who are
already within the House of Labor. And when you couple that,
(08:57):
people who are already unionized, who look at what is
happening in the system and they make a collective demand together,
Putting aside political affiliations, which president you supported, what party
you are from, your ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religions, all
of that stuff goes out the door when you're trying
(09:18):
to either one unionize or two. You're already unionize and
you're fighting for better benefits, wages, and work conditions. And
I see, Chris, what is happening within the labor movement
as a template for bringing working class people from all
backgrounds together to fight against an entire system, being social, political, economic, environmental,
(09:41):
and racial, to fight for something that is bigger and
better than us. How do you feel about people seeing
the work that you're doing and others within the labor
movement as a template to bring people from all walks
of life together to demand better. That's the key. You know,
what I said to Lizzie Graham was the same thing.
You know, it doesn't matter if you're on the left
(10:02):
of the right, So you you do see a connection
between the larger labor struggle and the struggle for all
working class people to demand better, to live good lives
and You definitely set the stage for that multiple times.
But I think especially for the world to see when
you were at the Senate hearing and you had a
chance to have an exchange with the Senator Lindsey Graham. Yeah,
(10:25):
like I said, you know, this is not a left
of right thing. This is a working class issue, and uh,
we have to uplift ourselves. We can't rely on billionails
to do it. We that we can't rely on the
establishment to do it. You know, grassrooms, community efforts, bringing
people together from all backgrounds. That's how we decelete the
system that doesn't work for us. Yeah, I totally agree
(10:51):
for people who have never ever maybe they don't have
an Amazon worker in their family. There are many people
have never worked in the factory. Can you walk us
through a typical day and an Amazon warehouse? Absolutely, So
I'll give you what I used to go through, uh
as an experience. I live in New Jersey, which is
about fifteen minutes from the city. If you're driving without
(11:14):
traffic and you don't have a vehicle, you have to commute,
you know, commuting this public trains, with the bus, train, subway, ferry.
I had to take all three of these different options.
To get the Amazon Staton Island. So most workers in
the New York area that goes to that island, they
had to take the bus to the city, then the
(11:34):
train downtown to the ferry, and then the ferry across
the river to that nowland, then another bus, the forty,
which goes to the last stop, which is Amazon, and
that could take anywhere between two and a half and
three hours, depending on where you're coming from, what borrow
you live in. If you live in New Jersey, so
two and a half the three hours each way on
top of your ten or twelve hours ship I work both.
(11:57):
I used to tell my New Highs if you have
a gym members it, you might want to cancel it
because you're gonna be doing tend to twelve hours of calisthetics, pulling, reaching, veniting,
lifting items all day long. You're on the station. You
have to make productivity, which is for my department, the
hourly rate was four items hour, So I had to
pick at the station, which is like sort of like
(12:19):
a cubical life station, and it's like a robot that
brains over sort of like a bookshew, and you pick
these small items that customers order, you know, all day
long and you're doing that pretended to allowers. So yeah,
it was very physical and more so mentally took a
toll of you as well. Used to see my style
terry confinement because these buildings don't have any windows. These
(12:42):
buildings are massive, the size of fourteen NFL football fields,
a million square feet. It takes five to ten minutes
to walk to the bathroom and you only get it
thirty minute months for the hours that you put in.
So you know, just imagine being in that four days
a week and beyond. So, Chris, let me go back
to something you said, because I don't want to lose it.
(13:02):
You said you only get a thirty minute lunch for
eight ten to twelve hour shift. So to turn, I
want to share. If you get thirty minutes and you
also get a fifteen minute or twenty minute break, they
give you two breaks for the day. Same thing with
the twelve hour shift. You may get a forty five
minute months, but you also get another second break and
(13:23):
then out of it. It still wasn't enough, hardly enough
to work those long hours and have you know such
a little break time. Yeah, I agree. In the grueling
physical work and you mentioned no windows. Oh, no, the
only windows you see is in the cafeteria. Anywhere else
in the building. You know, there's windows that are that
you can't even they'll see for yourself. They're all the
(13:44):
way up top, or if the building has them at all,
they may not even have them. So you wouldn't even
know if there was a weather occurrence because you have
no windows or very few windows. Oh yeah, definitely. You know,
we didn't have that strass to our phone before the
pandemic either, So imagine that those years that I worked
that Amazon, you didn't have access to your phone. We
have to put our phones and lockers. They're allowed to
(14:04):
have the phones going the pandemic, and because of you know,
our efforts with the union amplifying that you know, our
phone leads to beyond us at all times, because it
would happened with the tornado. Yes, you don't have that access,
you know before, and and that was another issue as well.
I mean, it sounds very much to me reminiscent of
sweatshops that we had once upon a time in this country,
(14:27):
and those were i mean for a long time, you know,
workers of this nation, and that's how we were able
to get you know, that is why labor exists. Was
the fight for those things, better work conditions, better benefits,
a better salary, and all of that kind of stuff.
But to me, hearing you describe what a typical day
could be like for a worker coming from New Jersey
or in the Greater New York area working at the
(14:49):
Staten Island, it seems to me as if this is
regression and not progress. And I, for the life of me,
do not understand why any local, state, or federal labor
board or organization that is charged we're looking out for
workers would even agree to those kinds of work conditions,
and particularly when you get to work permit for the buildings,
(15:11):
that is a local issue. I served on a local
city council here in Cleveland that comes from a local level.
Why would any local government approved that kind of building
for workers. There's something psychological about windows, and this is real.
This is not just need to Turner saying it. There's
science behind having real sunlight and science behind having fresh
(15:32):
air and the impact that having those things have on
our psyche and our physical body. Conversely, not having those
things have an impact on our psyche and our physical bodies.
Oh yeah, I agree a hundred Once again, I mentioned
it was solitary complinement. You're in this building from sun
up to sun down. You don't see it in the
(15:53):
sunlight when you're outside unless you go outside for a break,
and your track on your second grade, so you don't
have them as time. It's real prison, like. I visited
quite a few prisons in my life, you know, with
my my father being incarcerated, and I can tell you
there's not too much of a difference, especially now stating
only because of the Union campaign, they build up offense
(16:15):
with barbed wire. Never see that at the Amazon. Yeah,
there's defense with barbed wire right outside of dfk A.
There's a scaffold there. Now, it doesn't make any sense
why they put that up, But you know, all these
things that just build real prison like. You know, the
buildings already far out away from the inner city and
it takes you know, once again two hours three hours
(16:36):
to get there if you're commuting. It's a disconnect from society.
And that's why it's important that we amplify their voices
and we do our demonstrations out there and press conferences
out there. If I was doing any media, they had
to come meet me in the trenches because that's what
it was. That's exactly right, because it's I want the
people who are on this journey with us today to
understand that because most people in the world order from Amazon,
(17:00):
it's not a matter of Amazon going away. It is
a matter of Amazon being a better corporate citizen and
treating its workers with the respect and dignity that they deserve,
starting with benefits, work conditions, and wages. I was struck, Chris,
when I went to Bessemer, Alabama. Mean to a person,
(17:22):
and we know that their majority African American workforce, majority
African American woman workforce. I was just really struck by
the fact that I have not heard, and you've certainly
been around many more Amazon workers than I have, but
I did not hear and have not heard to this
very moment, any Amazon worker who wanted Amazon to go
out of business. What I did hear from the workers
(17:45):
was that they wanted to be treated through actions and deeds,
both through my paycheck, through my work conditions, through my benefits,
with the respect and dignity that they deserve, and helping
this company become the Juggernai that it is in the world,
even after all the abuse and the stories that I've heard,
and the one that you are lifting up today, I
(18:06):
still did not hear one Amazon workers say that they
wanted Amazon to go out of business. Yeah, that's true,
even for my case as well. You know, they just
they try to use that against us. They're like, oh,
the million dollar lawyers sent you know my Twitter handles
shut down Amazon to the n l r B saying
that you know, we want to shut down the building.
We want to shut down Amazon. It's ridiculous. It's like, no,
(18:27):
we don't. We want our jobs. We just want to
be treated better. We want better pay, we want better
medical leave options, we want to pension, you want job security.
You know basic things that I show you now, the
companies should be able to afford with no problem. They
took one million of their dollars and stopped putting it
towards union busting, and they can actually pay everybody a
decent living waves. And that's all we're asking for is
(18:47):
a fair share and to be treated with respect until
be treated as a sense of workers. Since we are
in necessity, you are on the fight until we get that.
Look to me, when I saw shut down Amazon, I
was thinking it meant shut down of bullshit. And let's
get to the real ship. That's how I took it.
Shut that down, shut down this old way of doing things,
and let's do things the right way to meet. Local
(19:14):
government has a role to play, Chris, I am harping
on the building, and I can envision. I've been in
several prisons, you know, over my professional life as well,
and I can visualize it. And to me, when you
talk about going on lunch, I can visualize being in
the yard when you're just getting the chance to look
up at the sun and get a little fresh air.
And then you got to go back in, like you said,
to solitary confinement. It makes no sense. And then you said, uh,
(19:38):
a scaffold and of fence with bob wire. How in
the hell did the locals allow Amazon? See, we gotta
put this blame everywhere. Government has a role to play, local, regional, state,
and federal, and they are letting Amazon do this to
the workers. Because if the federal government in particular was
carrying the carrot and the stick, they wouldn't get be
(20:00):
able to get away with this. If federal, local, state,
and regional leaders who are elected were more outraged, Amazon
wouldn't be able to get a weight with this because
government writes the rules. So who would in the hell
approved a building that has very few windows. I'm just
really and everything that you're saying, just really disappointed with
(20:21):
those who are elected to office because they are allowing
this company to get away with it. And it really
all goes back to big money in politics too. Many
of these elected officials are bought and soul. Chris, absolutely,
I've noticed that in my short two years and organizing
how politics play into this organizing realm. We have to
apply that question too. I had to call out alc
(20:44):
That's what it took to get her out there. She
came out there. You know, now we're tight, you know,
we're good, and she started to help out even more.
And that's what it takes good takes us to hold
them accountable. And we have to do that, especially the
unions that's been around. You know, Amazon has been around
for twenty eight years, you know, and the stuff that
we're doing, of course is unpresidented, but at the same time,
(21:06):
these established unions have been doing a lot more, a
lot sooner, and you know, we have to hold them
accountable as well as you know, the new up and
coming grassroots organization. I want to make sure that everybody
is involved in trying to fight against Amazon, because they're
in every state, They're in every major city across this country.
And once again, all the workers since we won have
(21:29):
reached out to us from every building in the country
and beyond, even overseas. So we're gonna need a lot
of support. We're gonna have to all be David versus Golia. Yeah, beautiful.
I'm so glad to hear that people are ready to
rise up, and a lot of that comes from the
courage that you showed, the courage that our sisters and
brothers and family and friends showed the best summer to
really say we're gonna fight. We don't care what they
(21:51):
say and what they do, we are going to fight.
I want to draw attention to something I think it
was one of the Amazon lawyers said, because they under
estimated you, and your story is one of triumph, but
it's not without paining, and it's not without sacrifice. People
see you where you are now, and they see all
the interviews and the calls that you get, but very
(22:12):
few people understand what it took for you to be
in this moment. They see you on top so to speak.
And I'm using on top not to say that you
it is not an indication that you are above the people,
but I mean people see you at the top of
the game and this game, which is to fight for
unionization and Amazon. But very few people know the moments
(22:36):
of anxiety, the moments of ridicule, the moments of doubt
that you had to endure before you opened everybody's eyes
by doing what my grandmother used to say it. She
used to say this, I can show you better than
I can tell you. And that's exactly what you did.
And one moment in particular is I believe this came
from one of the attorneys, but you can tell me.
(22:57):
And and the quote I'm quoting this person, they say
he's not smart articulate. That statement really gave me chills,
It really did. And it just reminded me that oppression
and arrogance and racism is still alive. And well, what
were your initial thoughts when you saw that or when
you read that, and how did you prove them wrong?
(23:19):
How did you do with my grandmother said I can
show you better than I can tell you. I noted it,
for sure. I remember when it came out it was
like a week or two after I was fired two
years ago, David Spolski said that, you know, I'm not
small articulate. Instead of answering for the UM team time
they're helping safety concerns to the media, that was their
(23:40):
playing their smear campaign. And Jeff Bezos himself was in
that room and also signed off on that as well.
So of course it motivated me to continue advocating. Definitely
upset at me, that is definitely something that I stigma
on the black community. To say something like that definitely
made my lawyers upset. I remember my lawyer reached out
to me, and he was more upset than I was
(24:01):
because I didn't understand it at first, and it took
me a minute to understand what he sent me. I'm like,
wait a second, I'm reading something that was set about me,
and oh, oh okay. So I noted that, and you know,
I said, you know, I'm gonna show them. Travel the country,
advocated front of Jeff Bazo's mansions and penthouses all across
the country from New York all the way to Beverly Hills.
(24:23):
Then we went up to Seattle, we went to Corporate
and went to the spears, and then we went to
Alabama as well. We had to stop down there, and
we came back home and we said, you know what
I started, you not Scott Knowledge and UM. The same
people that I had from day one. Some of them
I used to be my former employees underneath me. I
used to be the supervisor. They're still ride with me today.
(24:43):
And and that's what it took. It took us all
coming back home to New York, coming together, bringing people
our comrades with us. And we had people packed their
lives up, travel across country and UM organized with us,
and we got it done. Yeah you did, And I'm
glad you're or. It was upset about it as soon
as I read it, just because you know, I'm a
professor of African American history and I I understand what
(25:06):
that meant is. It was just like using the ansi
of Mima one time in my political career that Antiobama
was used against me. So when people do that, especially
white people, when they say he's not smart, he's not articulate,
it's falling back on a tired old UH stereotype about
Black people and our intellect and the seat that we're
not talking about the eighteen hundreds. Of the nineteen hundreds,
(25:27):
we're talking about the two thousands, and they're still playing
that game. You know, there was a point in time,
I don't know if you recall, there was a candidate
they did the reverse. They said of then Senator Obama,
he's clean and articulate. Yeah, that person is in the
White House right now. He did the reverse, he's clean
and articulate, instead of calling them not, he's cleaning articulate. Again,
(25:50):
it doesn't matter how they use it. It is a
stereotype and a trope against African American people, and it
just does remind us that to fight against anti blackness,
it's real, and that racism and bigotry will always fall
back on its tired old tropes, and that is one
(26:11):
of them to paint you as insignificant. Really, that's what
they were trying to do. And you did show them.
And I'm so glad that you did. And there are
thousands and thousands of Amazon workers and other working class
people who are glad that you did too. I want
to end our session with two things. One that I
want to do it with a quote. I'm gonna do
(26:31):
a faith based quote. Now, everybody that listens to Hello, somebody,
they know my love languages, quotes and scriptures. And then Chris,
I want you to respond to it. And then also lastly,
I want you to tell people what they can do
to be involved, to be engaged, and to help you
and your colleagues on this justice journey, because justice is
(26:52):
a journey, is not a destination. So I'm gonna pull
something from Dr King. He's so quotable, But here we go.
May I stress a need for courage, intelligent and dedicated leadership.
Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity,
but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money,
(27:13):
but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject to
their particular eagles to the greatness of the cause. When
I thought about that quote, I thought about you. You
are subjecting yourself to the greatness of the cause. That
inspiring word comes from the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
And another one I have from the Book of Joshua,
(27:34):
the first chapter the ninth verse, and it reads, have
I not commanded you be strong and courageous, Do not
be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your
God will be with you wherever you go. And I'm
using that scripture in a spiritual sense. I know everybody
that's listening to us is not, you know, hail from
(27:55):
the Christian tradition. We probably have Buddhists and Muslims and
jew sisters and brothers and family and friends, and atheists
and agnostics too, you know, people who rock all kinds
of different ways. So when I read that, I'm reading
it from a spiritual sense of just pouring in to
you for the incredible work that you have done and
(28:16):
what you are continuing to do. So if you can
react to both of those things and then tell all
of us what we can do to be more helpful
to you and your colleagues in this fight, well thank you,
because you know I love getting that type of spiritual
motivation as well, because it's needed in this fight. And
and that's what you know I take from them from
(28:38):
both of the quotes, is that you know the work
that I'm doing is God's work. You know, I started
two years ago. And if you would have asked me
two and a half years ago, would I'd be sitting
here talking to Senator turning out have been like, what
are you talking about? Just being unemployed? Being fired, being
an advocate for workers for so long and continue to
(28:59):
do the work that I'm doing. I want to represent everybody.
I want to continue to inspire and continue to bring
people together. And that's when my journey is about. It's
never been about myself. It's always been about the people,
and it's going to continue to be that way, no
matter who I'm meeting, whether I'm going to the White House,
no matter what celebrity I'm standing next to, shaking hands,
(29:20):
But none of that matters to me. And anybody that's
been around me and know who I am as a person,
know that I'm I'm for the people. I was pushed
forward by the people, and the people embrace that. You know,
we all list together, you know, solidarity forever. Indeed, solidarity forever.
And if people want to get involved, what do you
(29:41):
recommend they do? And please share all of your social
media handles. Sure absolutely, this is the nation wide call action.
Amazon hasn't recognized Junete. You guys are paid holiday. They
claim they're standing with the black community. Solidarity with the
black community. They need to pay us on our holiday
and make that a paid national holiday, making the ninth
(30:01):
paid national holiday for the company. Right now is only
eight As you know, it's been passed since last year.
They made an excuse of the reason they're being so
close they couldn't do it in time, But they had
a whole year to make that decision and it still
hasn't been made yet. So I'm I'm asking everybody to
amplify that June teeth is not recognized as a paid
holiday from Amazon. Cancel your prime, do whatever you gotta do,
(30:23):
amplify that, and we're putting out a petition. Please look
for that. It's gonna be on our social media. What's
gonna be found on Twitter at Amazon Labor on Facebook,
Instagram and TikTok at Amazon Labor Union at Amazon Labor
Union dot org and myself at shut underscore down Amazon
on Twitter at Chris Small's on Instagram. Well, it has
(30:47):
been our absolute honor and pleasure to have you. Chris
Small's the one and only the president of the a
l You. He is making all kinds of good trouble
and we are so glad that he is. Please make
sure that you do what you can where you are
what you have joined this fight, because when you joined
(31:07):
the fight with the Amazon workers all over the world,
you are really joining the fight with the house of
labor all over the world. Chris smalls, what a pleasure. Baby.
You keep the faith and I want you to keep
the fight. Turnordinary jordinary things somebody and make it turn
(31:31):
up believing some turnings, giving us jo somebody time. Yeah,
changes coming. The pain is nothing trying to shoot for
the stars. If you're gonna aim for something, embrace the
love for your brother and sister. You need these the
(31:54):
mission brush, we need the puzzle. This pictures painted up
and frame it up for the world to see. Came
to hate it up. Enough is enough, It's enough making
changes or enough in turn of a voice of the
truth to wise words despire the youth to keep their
eyes on the roof. It's the end. Never give up,
keep conquering goals to the eye. Intelligence, silver, wisdom is gold.
That to the end. Now is your time, Stay firm,
(32:16):
don't fold to the a or you need is the
three bones. That's what Randie said. Now I'm gonna make
sure these words from Randie spread for all the hair.
To give it your hair. She can take him to
the promised Land. I swear world pieces what they fear,
and Queen's to Cleveland Ohio. We're here, Famous, Famous, Turning
any quality Brandell, Hello, Somebody you need to turn, Spanning Somebody,
(32:43):
Ship and Turnings, Hell, Somebody you need to turn. Times
Great Try Brothers A great more hand. Hello Somebody is
(33:07):
a production of I Heart Radio and the Black Effect Network.
For more podcast from our heart Radio, visit the I
heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Turning, Turning Somebody. Welcome to Hello Somebody, a production of
(00:28):
The Black Effect Podcast Network and I Heart Media. Where
we rage against the machine, where we raise our voices
against injustice and stand up for justice. Where we embrace
hope and joy with an optimism for a bright or
more justus future. Each week I'll be dropping knowledge, whether
(00:48):
it's a solo episode from me or a hearty discussion
with esteem guests doing great things in spaces and places
of politics, entertainment, social justice, and beyond. We get real, baby,
I mean really real. We get honest, We get up
close and personal for you, Yes, you, because everybody is somebody.
(01:15):
Before we begin, I want to give a special shout
out to my team. Thank you, sim Tiffany Sam and
the team over at Good Juju Studios, Erica, England, Pepper Chambers,
the Hot One, and my social media team. There is always,
and I mean always, a time in history when a courageous,
(01:39):
unapologetic and bowls soul sees that some ship needs to
change and that heroic soul steps up without equivocation. I
don't think people get the whole picture or fully understand
the bravery it takes for a person or a group
of people to stand up a against corrupting forces, against
(02:02):
corporate giants, against hell, just standing up to anybody that
may be bigger than them physically and financially. Well, I
must say that every body eventually has its day, and today,
in this very historic moment, I have with me the
one and only Mr Chris Small's president of Amazon Labor Union,
(02:27):
and he saw and stepped up against those giants. I
want to call him a giant killer because that's what
he did. He slay them giants, and they don't know
what to do with themselves. He was bold enough and
brave enough and courageous enough to say enough is enough.
So we're gonna get into this. Christian, how are you, Darler?
Thank you, thank you so much. Oh it's my pleasure.
(02:51):
I'm so happy to have you on this show. I've
been watching you and following you, and you're fighting as
most people know. And there may be some people new
to listen to I love somebody or even some people
new to both meeting you and myself, but I want
them to know that you took a very painful moment
in your life. Well, I'm jumping the gun, but being fire.
(03:11):
You're gonna tell this story. But you took a painful
moment in your life and you turned it into something magnificent.
And I know that a lot of people want to
know what was the force behind motivating you taking a
moment in your life that could have set somebody else
off in a different path, meaning that they just gave
up totally because of the mammoth on the other side
(03:34):
of this fight. What happened and what motivated you to
keep pushing? Yeah, well, it was definitely the pandemic. It
was a life of death situation going on in the country,
in the world, and Amazon and along with other industries
had as deemed as essential workers as you know, and
(03:54):
to be deemed as an essential worker and not treated
as such. Um. But for years on years and working
at this company, I just couldn't take it anymore, especially
when it came to COVID night team watching, my associates,
my former colleagues, people that work underneath me coming the
building every day without Ppe getting sick one by one
(04:15):
of the domino effect right in front of me. I
couldn't just stand there and be complacent about the situation
if I had to take action, So that led me
to do so. I'm old enough to remember when we
did call workers such as Amazon workers. I remember the
word being spread that Amazon workers save Christmas. You know,
it's kind of like a little joke, but it was
true that because of the onslaught of the pandemic in
(04:39):
a lot of people couldn't get out the way that
they would usually do if they celebrate the holiday and
they shop. And it was Amazon workers of all all
the levels within the warehouse, the people who drive the trucks,
the people who pack all of that, you all really
save Christmas. And people were appreciative. I know, folks can
not necessarily see my air quotes right now, But then
(05:00):
all of a sudden that was lost. You had a
whole bunch of political leaders and business leaders singing your praises,
and then all of a sudden people acted like essential workers,
like Amazon workers, grocery store workers, medical workers, you know,
the kinds of workers that all the rest of us
needed to be able to carry on our lives. Amazon
(05:21):
was very much a part of that. And then all
of a sudden there was no praise and no uplift
for essential workers at all. Do you think that we
are too quick to forget because we are such an
instant society we see it today. And then we move
on to the next what is it about no longer
seeing both Amazon workers and also your counterparts and other
(05:41):
industries as essentials. And then my last point to this
question not just saying the words essential, but treating you
as though you are essential. Yeah, I think much of
the economy starting to get that rolling the tension away
from the issues in this country, which starts in the
window in the media as well, not just but the
labor movement, but with every every movement, the social justice,
(06:04):
environmental you know, women's rights, the war, everything that's taking
place in this country. You know, media gets dragged in
several different directions, so it was easy for our stories,
our voices to get buried. And that was my also
ulship of mind to keep our story and our voices alive,
just my you know, continue to put in the work
in and do demonstrations across the country to amplify our voices.
(06:26):
And then when it came time to unionize, we had
to change course a little bit, change up our strategy.
We had to definitely reach out for community support and
in return, we realized that it was divided in and
uh and we didn't really have that that option. We
have the resources, are the established unions behind us. We
had to do a real grass roots and that's how
(06:48):
we had to beat Amazon. We had to bring it
into the warehouse, connect with the co workers, let them
know the issues of what's going on, and really build
and earned trust with them. Otherwise you've never got it done.
And what lessons did you learn? I mean, you were
forced into that grassrooms position. Obviously you would have loved
to have had the support of larger, more established unions.
(07:09):
But since you found yourself being pretty much on your own,
you and the rest of the people who believe in
your calls, what are some of the lessons that you
learned in this tumultuous process. What I definitely learned is, Uh,
it doesn't matter the amount of money, the millions of
dollars that the company spent against us, doesn't matter about
their union busses meaning the building seven, It doesn't matter
(07:32):
what they can do. When the power of the people
come together, and when we all come together, we can
defeat anything. And that's exactly what this campaign provement is
that ordinary people from all different backgrounds, ethnicities can come
together and defeat what we call Goliath, and you know,
we want to continue to amplify that on the national scale.
(07:54):
Here in dek Stat Island that's just one building, and
there's several other campaigns that are still taking place. Of course,
investment Alabama. We want to make sure that you know
we're gonna take care of all across the country. You know,
even in Ohio, this work is reaching out to us.
We've been contacted by every building in the country since
we won. And I just think right now we're part
(08:15):
of a really bigger revolution when it comes to Amazon work.
It's just like Starbucks. Now you really are Chris and
just all those who are fighting to just even unionize,
and you had like this burst I think in one
in particular, where you saw a lot of our sisters
and brothers and family and friends who are already unionized,
(08:37):
really fighting and pushing for better wages, better work conditions,
and better benefits. John Deer comes to mind. There were
nurses that were on strike during that time. There were
teachers that were striking. It was Baker's you know, from
the Bakers Union. Just the onslought of those who are
already within the House of Labor. And when you couple that,
(08:57):
people who are already unionized, who look at what is
happening in the system and they make a collective demand together,
Putting aside political affiliations, which president you supported, what party
you are from, your ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religions, all
of that stuff goes out the door when you're trying
(09:18):
to either one unionize or two. You're already unionize and
you're fighting for better benefits, wages, and work conditions. And
I see, Chris, what is happening within the labor movement
as a template for bringing working class people from all
backgrounds together to fight against an entire system, being social, political, economic, environmental,
(09:41):
and racial, to fight for something that is bigger and
better than us. How do you feel about people seeing
the work that you're doing and others within the labor
movement as a template to bring people from all walks
of life together to demand better. That's the key. You know,
what I said to Lizzie Graham was the same thing.
You know, it doesn't matter if you're on the left
(10:02):
of the right, So you you do see a connection
between the larger labor struggle and the struggle for all
working class people to demand better, to live good lives
and You definitely set the stage for that multiple times.
But I think especially for the world to see when
you were at the Senate hearing and you had a
chance to have an exchange with the Senator Lindsey Graham. Yeah,
(10:25):
like I said, you know, this is not a left
of right thing. This is a working class issue, and uh,
we have to uplift ourselves. We can't rely on billionails
to do it. We that we can't rely on the
establishment to do it. You know, grassrooms, community efforts, bringing
people together from all backgrounds. That's how we decelete the
system that doesn't work for us. Yeah, I totally agree
(10:51):
for people who have never ever maybe they don't have
an Amazon worker in their family. There are many people
have never worked in the factory. Can you walk us
through a typical day and an Amazon warehouse? Absolutely, So
I'll give you what I used to go through, uh
as an experience. I live in New Jersey, which is
about fifteen minutes from the city. If you're driving without
(11:14):
traffic and you don't have a vehicle, you have to commute,
you know, commuting this public trains, with the bus, train, subway, ferry.
I had to take all three of these different options.
To get the Amazon Staton Island. So most workers in
the New York area that goes to that island, they
had to take the bus to the city, then the
(11:34):
train downtown to the ferry, and then the ferry across
the river to that nowland, then another bus, the forty,
which goes to the last stop, which is Amazon, and
that could take anywhere between two and a half and
three hours, depending on where you're coming from, what borrow
you live in. If you live in New Jersey, so
two and a half the three hours each way on
top of your ten or twelve hours ship I work both.
(11:57):
I used to tell my New Highs if you have
a gym members it, you might want to cancel it
because you're gonna be doing tend to twelve hours of calisthetics, pulling, reaching, veniting,
lifting items all day long. You're on the station. You
have to make productivity, which is for my department, the
hourly rate was four items hour, So I had to
pick at the station, which is like sort of like
(12:19):
a cubical life station, and it's like a robot that
brains over sort of like a bookshew, and you pick
these small items that customers order, you know, all day
long and you're doing that pretended to allowers. So yeah,
it was very physical and more so mentally took a
toll of you as well. Used to see my style
terry confinement because these buildings don't have any windows. These
(12:42):
buildings are massive, the size of fourteen NFL football fields,
a million square feet. It takes five to ten minutes
to walk to the bathroom and you only get it
thirty minute months for the hours that you put in.
So you know, just imagine being in that four days
a week and beyond. So, Chris, let me go back
to something you said, because I don't want to lose it.
(13:02):
You said you only get a thirty minute lunch for
eight ten to twelve hour shift. So to turn, I
want to share. If you get thirty minutes and you
also get a fifteen minute or twenty minute break, they
give you two breaks for the day. Same thing with
the twelve hour shift. You may get a forty five
minute months, but you also get another second break and
(13:23):
then out of it. It still wasn't enough, hardly enough
to work those long hours and have you know such
a little break time. Yeah, I agree. In the grueling
physical work and you mentioned no windows. Oh, no, the
only windows you see is in the cafeteria. Anywhere else
in the building. You know, there's windows that are that
you can't even they'll see for yourself. They're all the
(13:44):
way up top, or if the building has them at all,
they may not even have them. So you wouldn't even
know if there was a weather occurrence because you have
no windows or very few windows. Oh yeah, definitely. You know,
we didn't have that strass to our phone before the
pandemic either, So imagine that those years that I worked
that Amazon, you didn't have access to your phone. We
have to put our phones and lockers. They're allowed to
(14:04):
have the phones going the pandemic, and because of you know,
our efforts with the union amplifying that you know, our
phone leads to beyond us at all times, because it
would happened with the tornado. Yes, you don't have that access,
you know before, and and that was another issue as well.
I mean, it sounds very much to me reminiscent of
sweatshops that we had once upon a time in this country,
(14:27):
and those were i mean for a long time, you know,
workers of this nation, and that's how we were able
to get you know, that is why labor exists. Was
the fight for those things, better work conditions, better benefits,
a better salary, and all of that kind of stuff.
But to me, hearing you describe what a typical day
could be like for a worker coming from New Jersey
or in the Greater New York area working at the
(14:49):
Staten Island, it seems to me as if this is
regression and not progress. And I, for the life of me,
do not understand why any local, state, or federal labor
board or organization that is charged we're looking out for
workers would even agree to those kinds of work conditions,
and particularly when you get to work permit for the buildings,
(15:11):
that is a local issue. I served on a local
city council here in Cleveland that comes from a local level.
Why would any local government approved that kind of building
for workers. There's something psychological about windows, and this is real.
This is not just need to Turner saying it. There's
science behind having real sunlight and science behind having fresh
(15:32):
air and the impact that having those things have on
our psyche and our physical body. Conversely, not having those
things have an impact on our psyche and our physical bodies.
Oh yeah, I agree a hundred Once again, I mentioned
it was solitary complinement. You're in this building from sun
up to sun down. You don't see it in the
(15:53):
sunlight when you're outside unless you go outside for a break,
and your track on your second grade, so you don't
have them as time. It's real prison, like. I visited
quite a few prisons in my life, you know, with
my my father being incarcerated, and I can tell you
there's not too much of a difference, especially now stating
only because of the Union campaign, they build up offense
(16:15):
with barbed wire. Never see that at the Amazon. Yeah,
there's defense with barbed wire right outside of dfk A.
There's a scaffold there. Now, it doesn't make any sense
why they put that up, But you know, all these
things that just build real prison like. You know, the
buildings already far out away from the inner city and
it takes you know, once again two hours three hours
(16:36):
to get there if you're commuting. It's a disconnect from society.
And that's why it's important that we amplify their voices
and we do our demonstrations out there and press conferences
out there. If I was doing any media, they had
to come meet me in the trenches because that's what
it was. That's exactly right, because it's I want the
people who are on this journey with us today to
understand that because most people in the world order from Amazon,
(17:00):
it's not a matter of Amazon going away. It is
a matter of Amazon being a better corporate citizen and
treating its workers with the respect and dignity that they deserve,
starting with benefits, work conditions, and wages. I was struck, Chris,
when I went to Bessemer, Alabama. Mean to a person,
(17:22):
and we know that their majority African American workforce, majority
African American woman workforce. I was just really struck by
the fact that I have not heard, and you've certainly
been around many more Amazon workers than I have, but
I did not hear and have not heard to this
very moment, any Amazon worker who wanted Amazon to go
out of business. What I did hear from the workers
(17:45):
was that they wanted to be treated through actions and deeds,
both through my paycheck, through my work conditions, through my benefits,
with the respect and dignity that they deserve, and helping
this company become the Juggernai that it is in the world,
even after all the abuse and the stories that I've heard,
and the one that you are lifting up today, I
(18:06):
still did not hear one Amazon workers say that they
wanted Amazon to go out of business. Yeah, that's true,
even for my case as well. You know, they just
they try to use that against us. They're like, oh,
the million dollar lawyers sent you know my Twitter handles
shut down Amazon to the n l r B saying
that you know, we want to shut down the building.
We want to shut down Amazon. It's ridiculous. It's like, no,
(18:27):
we don't. We want our jobs. We just want to
be treated better. We want better pay, we want better
medical leave options, we want to pension, you want job security.
You know basic things that I show you now, the
companies should be able to afford with no problem. They
took one million of their dollars and stopped putting it
towards union busting, and they can actually pay everybody a
decent living waves. And that's all we're asking for is
(18:47):
a fair share and to be treated with respect until
be treated as a sense of workers. Since we are
in necessity, you are on the fight until we get that.
Look to me, when I saw shut down Amazon, I
was thinking it meant shut down of bullshit. And let's
get to the real ship. That's how I took it.
Shut that down, shut down this old way of doing things,
and let's do things the right way to meet. Local
(19:14):
government has a role to play, Chris, I am harping
on the building, and I can envision. I've been in
several prisons, you know, over my professional life as well,
and I can visualize it. And to me, when you
talk about going on lunch, I can visualize being in
the yard when you're just getting the chance to look
up at the sun and get a little fresh air.
And then you got to go back in, like you said,
to solitary confinement. It makes no sense. And then you said, uh,
(19:38):
a scaffold and of fence with bob wire. How in
the hell did the locals allow Amazon? See, we gotta
put this blame everywhere. Government has a role to play, local, regional, state,
and federal, and they are letting Amazon do this to
the workers. Because if the federal government in particular was
carrying the carrot and the stick, they wouldn't get be
(20:00):
able to get away with this. If federal, local, state,
and regional leaders who are elected were more outraged, Amazon
wouldn't be able to get a weight with this because
government writes the rules. So who would in the hell
approved a building that has very few windows. I'm just
really and everything that you're saying, just really disappointed with
(20:21):
those who are elected to office because they are allowing
this company to get away with it. And it really
all goes back to big money in politics too. Many
of these elected officials are bought and soul. Chris, absolutely,
I've noticed that in my short two years and organizing
how politics play into this organizing realm. We have to
apply that question too. I had to call out alc
(20:44):
That's what it took to get her out there. She
came out there. You know, now we're tight, you know,
we're good, and she started to help out even more.
And that's what it takes good takes us to hold
them accountable. And we have to do that, especially the
unions that's been around. You know, Amazon has been around
for twenty eight years, you know, and the stuff that
we're doing, of course is unpresidented, but at the same time,
(21:06):
these established unions have been doing a lot more, a
lot sooner, and you know, we have to hold them
accountable as well as you know, the new up and
coming grassroots organization. I want to make sure that everybody
is involved in trying to fight against Amazon, because they're
in every state, They're in every major city across this country.
And once again, all the workers since we won have
(21:29):
reached out to us from every building in the country
and beyond, even overseas. So we're gonna need a lot
of support. We're gonna have to all be David versus Golia. Yeah, beautiful.
I'm so glad to hear that people are ready to
rise up, and a lot of that comes from the
courage that you showed, the courage that our sisters and
brothers and family and friends showed the best summer to
really say we're gonna fight. We don't care what they
(21:51):
say and what they do, we are going to fight.
I want to draw attention to something I think it
was one of the Amazon lawyers said, because they under
estimated you, and your story is one of triumph, but
it's not without paining, and it's not without sacrifice. People
see you where you are now, and they see all
the interviews and the calls that you get, but very
(22:12):
few people understand what it took for you to be
in this moment. They see you on top so to speak.
And I'm using on top not to say that you
it is not an indication that you are above the people,
but I mean people see you at the top of
the game and this game, which is to fight for
unionization and Amazon. But very few people know the moments
(22:36):
of anxiety, the moments of ridicule, the moments of doubt
that you had to endure before you opened everybody's eyes
by doing what my grandmother used to say it. She
used to say this, I can show you better than
I can tell you. And that's exactly what you did.
And one moment in particular is I believe this came
from one of the attorneys, but you can tell me.
(22:57):
And and the quote I'm quoting this person, they say
he's not smart articulate. That statement really gave me chills,
It really did. And it just reminded me that oppression
and arrogance and racism is still alive. And well, what
were your initial thoughts when you saw that or when
you read that, and how did you prove them wrong?
(23:19):
How did you do with my grandmother said I can
show you better than I can tell you. I noted it,
for sure. I remember when it came out it was
like a week or two after I was fired two
years ago, David Spolski said that, you know, I'm not
small articulate. Instead of answering for the UM team time
they're helping safety concerns to the media, that was their
(23:40):
playing their smear campaign. And Jeff Bezos himself was in
that room and also signed off on that as well.
So of course it motivated me to continue advocating. Definitely
upset at me, that is definitely something that I stigma
on the black community. To say something like that definitely
made my lawyers upset. I remember my lawyer reached out
to me, and he was more upset than I was
(24:01):
because I didn't understand it at first, and it took
me a minute to understand what he sent me. I'm like,
wait a second, I'm reading something that was set about me,
and oh, oh okay. So I noted that, and you know,
I said, you know, I'm gonna show them. Travel the country,
advocated front of Jeff Bazo's mansions and penthouses all across
the country from New York all the way to Beverly Hills.
(24:23):
Then we went up to Seattle, we went to Corporate
and went to the spears, and then we went to
Alabama as well. We had to stop down there, and
we came back home and we said, you know what
I started, you not Scott Knowledge and UM. The same
people that I had from day one. Some of them
I used to be my former employees underneath me. I
used to be the supervisor. They're still ride with me today.
(24:43):
And and that's what it took. It took us all
coming back home to New York, coming together, bringing people
our comrades with us. And we had people packed their
lives up, travel across country and UM organized with us,
and we got it done. Yeah you did, And I'm
glad you're or. It was upset about it as soon
as I read it, just because you know, I'm a
professor of African American history and I I understand what
(25:06):
that meant is. It was just like using the ansi
of Mima one time in my political career that Antiobama
was used against me. So when people do that, especially
white people, when they say he's not smart, he's not articulate,
it's falling back on a tired old UH stereotype about
Black people and our intellect and the seat that we're
not talking about the eighteen hundreds. Of the nineteen hundreds,
(25:27):
we're talking about the two thousands, and they're still playing
that game. You know, there was a point in time,
I don't know if you recall, there was a candidate
they did the reverse. They said of then Senator Obama,
he's clean and articulate. Yeah, that person is in the
White House right now. He did the reverse, he's clean
and articulate, instead of calling them not, he's cleaning articulate. Again,
(25:50):
it doesn't matter how they use it. It is a
stereotype and a trope against African American people, and it
just does remind us that to fight against anti blackness,
it's real, and that racism and bigotry will always fall
back on its tired old tropes, and that is one
(26:11):
of them to paint you as insignificant. Really, that's what
they were trying to do. And you did show them.
And I'm so glad that you did. And there are
thousands and thousands of Amazon workers and other working class
people who are glad that you did too. I want
to end our session with two things. One that I
want to do it with a quote. I'm gonna do
(26:31):
a faith based quote. Now, everybody that listens to Hello, somebody,
they know my love languages, quotes and scriptures. And then Chris,
I want you to respond to it. And then also lastly,
I want you to tell people what they can do
to be involved, to be engaged, and to help you
and your colleagues on this justice journey, because justice is
(26:52):
a journey, is not a destination. So I'm gonna pull
something from Dr King. He's so quotable, But here we go.
May I stress a need for courage, intelligent and dedicated leadership.
Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity,
but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money,
(27:13):
but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject to
their particular eagles to the greatness of the cause. When
I thought about that quote, I thought about you. You
are subjecting yourself to the greatness of the cause. That
inspiring word comes from the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.
And another one I have from the Book of Joshua,
(27:34):
the first chapter the ninth verse, and it reads, have
I not commanded you be strong and courageous, Do not
be afraid, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your
God will be with you wherever you go. And I'm
using that scripture in a spiritual sense. I know everybody
that's listening to us is not, you know, hail from
(27:55):
the Christian tradition. We probably have Buddhists and Muslims and
jew sisters and brothers and family and friends, and atheists
and agnostics too, you know, people who rock all kinds
of different ways. So when I read that, I'm reading
it from a spiritual sense of just pouring in to
you for the incredible work that you have done and
(28:16):
what you are continuing to do. So if you can
react to both of those things and then tell all
of us what we can do to be more helpful
to you and your colleagues in this fight, well thank you,
because you know I love getting that type of spiritual
motivation as well, because it's needed in this fight. And
and that's what you know I take from them from
(28:38):
both of the quotes, is that you know the work
that I'm doing is God's work. You know, I started
two years ago. And if you would have asked me
two and a half years ago, would I'd be sitting
here talking to Senator turning out have been like, what
are you talking about? Just being unemployed? Being fired, being
an advocate for workers for so long and continue to
(28:59):
do the work that I'm doing. I want to represent everybody.
I want to continue to inspire and continue to bring
people together. And that's when my journey is about. It's
never been about myself. It's always been about the people,
and it's going to continue to be that way, no
matter who I'm meeting, whether I'm going to the White House,
no matter what celebrity I'm standing next to, shaking hands,
(29:20):
But none of that matters to me. And anybody that's
been around me and know who I am as a person,
know that I'm I'm for the people. I was pushed
forward by the people, and the people embrace that. You know,
we all list together, you know, solidarity forever. Indeed, solidarity forever.
And if people want to get involved, what do you
(29:41):
recommend they do? And please share all of your social
media handles. Sure absolutely, this is the nation wide call action.
Amazon hasn't recognized Junete. You guys are paid holiday. They
claim they're standing with the black community. Solidarity with the
black community. They need to pay us on our holiday
and make that a paid national holiday, making the ninth
(30:01):
paid national holiday for the company. Right now is only
eight As you know, it's been passed since last year.
They made an excuse of the reason they're being so
close they couldn't do it in time, But they had
a whole year to make that decision and it still
hasn't been made yet. So I'm I'm asking everybody to
amplify that June teeth is not recognized as a paid
holiday from Amazon. Cancel your prime, do whatever you gotta do,
(30:23):
amplify that, and we're putting out a petition. Please look
for that. It's gonna be on our social media. What's
gonna be found on Twitter at Amazon Labor on Facebook,
Instagram and TikTok at Amazon Labor Union at Amazon Labor
Union dot org and myself at shut underscore down Amazon
on Twitter at Chris Small's on Instagram. Well, it has
(30:47):
been our absolute honor and pleasure to have you. Chris
Small's the one and only the president of the a
l You. He is making all kinds of good trouble
and we are so glad that he is. Please make
sure that you do what you can where you are
what you have joined this fight, because when you joined
(31:07):
the fight with the Amazon workers all over the world,
you are really joining the fight with the house of
labor all over the world. Chris smalls, what a pleasure. Baby.
You keep the faith and I want you to keep
the fight. Turnordinary jordinary things somebody and make it turn
(31:31):
up believing some turnings, giving us jo somebody time. Yeah,
changes coming. The pain is nothing trying to shoot for
the stars. If you're gonna aim for something, embrace the
love for your brother and sister. You need these the
(31:54):
mission brush, we need the puzzle. This pictures painted up
and frame it up for the world to see. Came
to hate it up. Enough is enough, It's enough making
changes or enough in turn of a voice of the
truth to wise words despire the youth to keep their
eyes on the roof. It's the end. Never give up,
keep conquering goals to the eye. Intelligence, silver, wisdom is gold.
That to the end. Now is your time, Stay firm,
(32:16):
don't fold to the a or you need is the
three bones. That's what Randie said. Now I'm gonna make
sure these words from Randie spread for all the hair.
To give it your hair. She can take him to
the promised Land. I swear world pieces what they fear,
and Queen's to Cleveland Ohio. We're here, Famous, Famous, Turning
any quality Brandell, Hello, Somebody you need to turn, Spanning Somebody,
(32:43):
Ship and Turnings, Hell, Somebody you need to turn. Times
Great Try Brothers A great more hand. Hello Somebody is
(33:07):
a production of I Heart Radio and the Black Effect Network.
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