ADVISORY FOR PLANNING PURPOSES: 4:30PM CST Saturday, March 13, 2021
MEDIA RSVP REQUIRED: Chelsea Connor | [email protected] | 347-866-6259
***MEDIA ADVISORY***
BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT TO LEAD CARAVAN IN SUPPORT OF BESSEMER, AL AMAZON WORKERS SEEKING UNION REPRESENTATION
WHAT: On March 13, the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) will lead a solidarity caravan in Bessemer, Alabama to show workers support in the final days of voting in the union election. BLM has been a strong supporter of the BAmazon union workers throughout their fight to bring the first union to an Amazon warehouse. About 85% of the workforce at the BHM1 facility in Bessemer, Alabama is Black. BLM has been working with RWDSU organizers on the ground since the election began. At the kick off of the caravan, BLM leaders will speak to what we’ve long known to be true, Amazon’s majority Black workforce has been treated as disposable and not been given the dignity and respect they deserve. This will also include a digital solidary caravan, building on BLM’s outreach to workers during this campaign.
BLM Birmingham will kick off the caravan alongside Movement Elders including representation from: NAACP, SCLC, Civil Rights Foot Soldiers, Poor People’s Campaign, Concerned Clergy, and other Black led organizations that share a common truth of uplifting Black Lives. Community groups and unions from the surrounding area will also join RWDSU organizers for the caravan.
“Amazon workers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and especially the 85% of Black Lives that go to that fulfillment center daily to work, but whose work is grossly undervalued. It’s our fight as a community of Black workers, it’s about us, and let us be clear, Black Lives Matter in Alabama” said Eric Hall, Co-Founder BLM Birmingham.
“Black workers have historically been the backbone of this country, its institutions, and innovations. Therefore, it is fully within our rights and dignity that we be treated and compensated fairly. Just as we have the right to live, we also have the right to work. This fight in Alabama is simply part of the larger movement for collective liberation. Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is in solidarity with the Black workers at Amazon who are fighting to unionize,” said Patrisse Cullors, Executive Director of BLM Global Network Foundation
“This is as much a fight about civil rights as it is about the fight to organize a union. The goals of the Black Lives Matter movement represent what it is the workers are trying to achieve at the Bessemer facility. We are thrilled to have the support of the Black Lives Matter movement during this critical and historic union campaign,” said Stuart Appelbuam, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
WHO: Black Lives Matter movement leaders, NAACP, SCLC, Civil Rights Foot Soldiers, Poor People’s Campaign, Concerned Clergy, other Black led organizations that share a common truth of uplifting Black Lives, community groups and unions from the surrounding area, RWDSU organizers.
WHEN: Saturday, March 13, 2021 4:30PM CST
WHERE: Next to Circle K at 994 Academy Dr. Bessemer AL, 35022
IMPORTANT COVERAGE NOTE: Please be mindful this action is taking place in support of workers and is timed accordingly; media should not obstruct the timing of this event for interviews. The caravan will begin at 4:30PM, members of the media who have RSVPed will be welcome to interviews and Q&A AFTER the caravan at approximately 5:00PM. Due to print or broadcast timing, should you require interviews earlier in the day or perhaps earlier in the week, we welcome those requests when you RSVP.
RSVP to Chelsea Connor above.
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.