Jacobin Radio w/ Suzi Weissman: John Logan on Bessemer

Suzi talks to labor historian John Logan (https://cob.sfsu.edu/faculty/faculty-spotlight) who assesses the historic unionization drive against Amazon at the new Bessemer Alabama warehouse — and processes the outcome: a no vote for the Retail Workers union. Front line workers took on the second largest, notoriously anti-union company in the US during a pandemic — and won widespread sympathy and media coverage — but failed to win enough votes to get union recognition. With so much riding on this struggle, we ask what was achieved, and what the defeat means for organizing in the US, where labor law is stacked in favor of the employers. We get John Logan’s perspective on the larger significance of this drive as well as the nitty gritty of the obstacles faced every step of the way.