This week, WEC welcomed a panel of guests who are organizing and representing workers deemed essential during the COVID-19 crisis. Anthony Abrantes, Organizing & Political Director for the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters; Christian Smalls, an organizer and Former Warehouse Assistant Manager at Amazon; and to welcome back Dave Hancock, Warehouse Campaign Director with the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU.
Anthony Abrantes, Organizing & Political Director for the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, spoke to the importance of health and safety measures for their members, steps the union has taken to ensure their safety, and what a just reopening of our economy might look like to the Carpenters.
Christian Smalls, an organizer and Former Warehouse Assistant Manager at Amazon, spoke about conditions inside of Amazon warehouses during the COVID19 crisis, negligence towards the health and safety of workers on Amazon’s part as an employer, and efforts to organize Amazon workers on the frontlines.
And, we heard from Dave Hancock, , Warehouse Campaign Director, Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, SEIU, who spoke about challenges faced by Barnes and Noble warehouse workers, negligence on the part of Barnes and Noble as an employer, and efforts to organize workers for better conditions during the COVID-19 crisis in New Jersey.
