Friends -
I'm going to Alabama on Friday to stand with the Amazon workers there who are trying to form a union. If they succeed, it will be a huge step forward for working people, not only in Alabama, but all across the country. If the middle class in this country is going to grow we need to strengthen the trade union movement, and that is what Amazon workers in Alabama are trying to do.
Before I get to Alabama, I am asking you to sign my petition to tell Jeff Bezos that you support the Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, who are organizing to form a union. It's important for Bezos to understand that the American people support these workers who are taking on enormously powerful forces.
Let's understand what's at stake here.
Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, is the wealthiest person in the world and the company has tens of thousands of workers in fulfillment centers all across the country who are working at a breakneck pace to fill and ship orders.
In 2020, Amazon made $14 billion in profits during the COVID pandemic, but decided to stop paying hazard pay to workers. During that same time, Jeff Bezos saw his wealth grow by around $70 billion. One report found that Jeff Bezos's net worth had grown so much from March to September 2020 that he could have given every single Amazon employee a bonus of $105,000 and he'd still be as wealthy as he was before the pandemic.
When I get to Alabama tomorrow to speak with the Amazon workers there, my message to Jeff Bezos will be pretty simple. "Jeff, you're worth $182 billion. That's a lot of money. What is your problem with allowing workers in your plant in Alabama to organize for better wages and better working conditions?"
The time is long overdue for us to address the crisis of income and wealth inequality in our country. It is totally absurd that two people (Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk) now own more wealth than the bottom 40% of the American population. And one of the ways we do that is by making it easier for workers to join unions.
So today I am asking you to stand in solidarity with Amazon workers in Alabama before the union vote comes to an end this Monday. With only a few days left, let's send an unmistakable message to Jeff Bezos that we stand with warehouse workers.
We cannot have a moral society or a strong economy when so few have so much, and so many have so little. That's the struggle we're engaging in right now not only in Alabama, but all across this country.
In my view, a nation cannot survive morally or economically when millions of people struggle to put food on the table and are one paycheck away from economic devastation, and the wealthiest people in this country have never had it so good.
Enough is enough.
Together we can send a message to working people nationwide that even if you are in an anti-union state like Alabama, and even if you are taking on the richest guy in the world who owns an incredibly powerful corporation, when we stand together and fight, we can win.
That is why I am asking you:
Thank you for adding your name to show you stand in solidarity with Amazon warehouse workers in their fight to form a union.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
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