ALA. WORKERS TRYING TO UNIONIZE AMAZON FULFILLMENT CENTER: THE NEW YORKER
![Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Mid-South Council President Randy Hadley stands at the RWDSU rally point near the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6af8c8f317d389af28a36d4f6be303ac62220c4936deeec27dd45fce34e738c3/Ragland-Amazon-1048.jpg)
![Darryl Richardson, Amazon employee who made first call to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) to organize a union of Amazon workers at the Bessemer, Alabama Amazon Fulfillment Center, photographed at the RWDSU building in Birmingham, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f68042c72103d01a9dd1fd354b3ba1482f547e69eaaaa437026cf1a3d2f5e27c/Ragland-Amazon-0013-bw.jpg)
![Michael "Big Mike" Foster, a poultry plant worker and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) organizer, photographed at the RWDSU building in Birmingham, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/29efe59de5dfaaa3454e288fe53d8fa641f6ad66324f39bbc8bae101153a291a/Ragland-Amazon-0225-bw.jpg)
![Jennifer Bates, Amazon employee who supports unionization, photographed at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) building in Birmingham, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/433910ecb70ec87cf0b7f58dbe5f08c61fcdfc27d83f8f0de91ac92d8b2b359b/Ragland-Amazon-0095-bw.jpg)
![Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) building in Birmingham, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5876d02bfb337660325bb4d72ca444dbebc72b0bd4db9eb4d40a73cb316a0c59/Ragland-Amazon-0305-bw.jpg)
![Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) building in Birmingham, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6c7fb9a99a8489e5c709c07c7c52ce516114003ffa473218ead34e69270561df/Ragland-Amazon-0321-bw.jpg)
![Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) building in Birmingham, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9eacd7817401d0655fef431e733a6301e17d331aa4bd32a0a44173910f591b56/Ragland-Amazon-0355-bw.jpg)
![Amazon employee Catherine Highsmith stands outside her home in Birmingham before leaving for her night shift at the Bessemer, Ala. fulfillment center. Highsmith, who has joined union organizing efforts, wears an Amazon SRBRS vest, (pronounced “Cerberus”) which transmits a radio frequency that keeps robotic machinery from crashing into her.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9eed2b722e31f1a5a08837608891add6cc9e6b0dc3f5c6e97de5ff6294d24efc/Ragland-Amazon-1227.jpg)
![Amazon Fulfillment Center, Bessemer Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/83ea7ba20bf8474ef674f8e18c6c4f7e865c8ddb0d314119e170c5b3a9dbe9fe/Ragland-Amazon-0497-bw.jpg)
![Pro-union signs placed outside the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer Ala. are regularly uprooted, discarded, or stolen by union busters.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/26543f69e1cb30b058d27691ae04ca00bbd3edb517bf28cf8f7d538055cc8d37/Ragland-Amazon-0544-bw.jpg)
![Pro-union signs located near the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cfb5a759a74451396448fd8b848d2933e2979b233e45abf40f0649e65d1b7435/Ragland-Amazon-0614-bw.jpg)
![The City of Bessemer changed the duration of the stoplights located at several intersections along Powder Plant Road that lead to the Amazon Fulfillment Center. As a result, traffic would not be stopped as long in the intersections, giving union organizers less time to engage with Amazon employees.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5d5660ef76fcb5000fdce26d0bcac586617eb99b0216bc16fec6f3d09c978613/Ragland-Amazon-0735-bw.jpg)
![Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) organizers Kim Hickson, left, and Carol McNair, right, at one of several intersections leading to the Amazon Fulfillment Center located along Powder Plant Road in Bessemer, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/80d7b8553a7635dfd762393f2b6671c4183b1f7492cd7408c20532ba5f5fc31e/Ragland-Amazon-0763-bw.jpg)
![Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) Mid-South Council President Randy Hadley greets Amazon workers as they depart the Amazon Fulfillment Center located along Powder Plant Road in Bessemer, Ala.](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/69861875a281bda7d4073aa6695fd0829574750aaafbadf2a4ef0883cbeb8dcb/Ragland-Amazon-0847-bw.jpg)
Alabama workers try to unionize an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Ala. If the effort succeeds, it could galvanize similar campaigns at other Amazon facilities and radically alter labor rights and wages across the US. Story by Charles Bethea / Mai Schotz, photo editor.
Read the piece here.
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