33:T4d4,

What is it that makes a worker essential? This is the question that Chris Smalls and hundreds of thousands of Amazon workers had to ask as they found themselves working long hours in unsafe conditions at the height of the pandemic, having been deemed 'essential.' But when Chris, who was responsible for training thousands of other employees and upper management, organized a protest for better work conditions he was immediately terminated and told he wasn't articulate enough to be the face of efforts to unionize. Chris responded by pushing it further, creating the Congress of Essential Workers and, eventually, the Amazon Labor Union.

Chris joins Fredrik and Leilani to discuss the intense amount of work it took to create the union, the power of challenging the system as his authentic self, and proving those who underestimated him dead wrong.

Support the Amazon Labor Union. You can see more about Chris's fight to create the Amazon Labor Union in Fredrik's latest film, Breaking Social.

34:T4f2,In March 2020, when the pandemic hit, Chris Smalls was an hourly worker at a warehouse in Staten Island. Today, he is the president of the Amazon Labor Union. In this episode, we learn about how working conditions can contribute to burnout in workplaces across America. We’ll also hear about what we can all do to redesign workplaces to avoid burnout. Correction: A previous version of this episode had an incorrect statistic related to Amazon’s hiring pacing, which has since been removed. Burnout is created in collaboration with Mindful.org. Mindful is a public benefit organization dedicated to sharing the gifts of mindfulness through content, training, courses, and coaching. To find a curated collection of mindfulness-based meditations, courses, and resources to help you prevent and work through Burnout in your life and work, head to mindful.org/burnout! Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our show and get bonus content. Subscribe today at bit.ly/lemonadapremium. Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: lemonadamedia.com/sponsorsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.35:T4de,

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 Workers

https://tcoew.org/

Follow Christian Smalls on Twitter

https://twitter.com/Shut_downAmazon

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

36:T442,Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, voted to form the company’s first union in the U.S. last Friday, making a historic win for labor organizers everywhere. The union earned recognition in less than a year into its existence, and it overcame multiple arrests as well as millions that Amazon spent o

I Was Fired From An Amazon Warehouse