03/23/21 03/23/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the border is closed. we are expelling families. we are expelling single adults. we have made a decision that we will not expel young, vulnerable children. amy: the biden administration moves to close much of the southern border as it holds 15,000 unaccompanied migrant

children. the number of asylum seekers shows no sign of slowing down. we will get the latest and look at how two trump-supporting mexicans are fanning the flames at the border. >> broadcasting false information out of a migrant camp. now hundreds of asylum-seekers who alrey fearor their lives because of death thrts and essential america and ng violenceave to also contained with the xenophobia, racm, and hostility these livestream ares are inting a socl media. amy: plus, we go to bessemer, alaba, where amazon woers are voting on whether to become the firsunionized amazon warehouse in the unid states. it's one of the most closely watched union electionin decades. >> working at amazon warehouse is no easy thing. the ships are long, the case is superfast. you're constantly being watched and monitored. they seem to think you are another machine. amy: we will speak to stuart

upper bound, president of the retail and hotel union. while amazon is fighting the unionization drive, the come to jeff bezos has made $65 billion over the past year during the pandemic -- that's an average of over $7 million an hour. a mass shooting at a supermarket in boulder, colorado, has taken 10 lives. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. in boulder, colorado, a gunman opened fire without warning at a supermarket monday afternoon, killing 10 people. witnesses described a horrific scene of bodies littering supermarket aisles as the shooter systematically fired round after round at shoppers without saying a word. police injured a white male

suspect outside the king sooper's grocery store and took him into custody. he has not been identified and no motive in the killings is known. among those shot dead was 51-year-old police officer eric talley, who was the first on the scene. resident steven mchugh dropped his family members off at the supermarket's pharmacy, where his son-in-law was in line for a covid-19 vaccine with his two grandchildren. mchugh said the family witnessed people being shot around them and d in a closet until lice rescued them. >> it is not ok that we don't have better gun-control laws. let me just say that. when it is your family -- this has got to stop. every week in the united states, there is a shooting. now it is our turn. and that should never be repeated anywhere. amy: the killer used an ar-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. just last week, a colorado state

judge blocked boulder ordinances barring assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, ruling in favor of the national rifle association's colorado affiliate and two boulder residents. the nra is in deeply weakened state. a filed for bankruptcy last year after new york state attorney general the tisha james sued them for fraud, seeking to dissolve the organization. the senate judiciary committee is holding hearings this afternoon on gun control. the centers for disease control and prevention is warning of another rise in covid-19 cases, with the seven-day average of daily infections up by 5% or more in 27 states. cdc director rochelle walensky on monday asked u.s. residents to continue to wear masks, to avoid crowds, and to delay travel even if they've been vaccinated. >> we are at a critical point in

this pandemic come a fork in the road where we as a country must decide which path we are going to take. we must act now and i am worried that if we don't take the right actions now, we will have another avoidable surge. just as we are seeing in europe right now. and just as we are so aggressively scaling up vaccinations. amy: the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases said tuesday that drug maker astrazeneca may have submitted outdated information about its covid-19 vaccine that provided an incomplete view of efficacy data from a late-stage clinical trial in the u.s. the development coulcomplicate astrazeneca's application to the food and drug administration for emergency use authorization. here in new york, governor andrew cuomo says all state residents aged 50 and older are now eligible for a covid-19 vaccine. meanwhile, west virginia has become the third u.s. state to offer vaccines to all adults, joining alaska and mississippi.

more than 82 million u.s. residents have received at least one dose of vaccine -- about one in four people nationwide. the head of the world health organization is calling on vaccine makers to license their technologies to other manufacturers, calling growing vaccine inequity a moral outrage. who director-general tedros adhanom ghebreyesus called it shocking that some countries are racing to vaccinate their entire populations -- including healthy younger people at lower risk of covid-19 -- while healthca workers, older people, and others at high risk go unvaccinated in poorer nations. >> the gap between the number of vaccines administered in rich countries and the number of vaccines administered through covax is growing every single day. and becoming more grotesque every day. amy: saudi arabia has proposed a

ceasefire to end its six-year war yemen, t houthiebels have rected the al saying the saudis must first fully lift its devastating blockade which has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis. shortly before proposing the ceasefire, saudi forces carried out air raids striking dozens of targets in yemen, including a grains port. in news from bangladesh, a massive fire in a rohingya refugee camp has killed at least 15 people and displaced 50,000. al jazeera reports 400 people remain missing. the fire began in a camp in cox's bazar and then spread to two others, destroying thousands of shelters. nearly a million rohingya refugees live in southern bangladesh after fleeing a military crackdown in burma in 2017. it was the third fire at the camps in recent days. one survivor told reuters -- "when we were in burma, they destroyed everything. now it has happened again." at least 137 people have been killed in niger after gunmen on

motorbikes attacked villages near the border of mali. it was the deadliest attack in the west african nation in years. the coordinated raids occurred on sunday -- on the same day niger's constitutional court confirmed newly elected president mohamed bazoum's victory. back in the united states, the senate has confirmed boston mayor and former union leader marty walsh to be secretary of labor. walsh becomes the first labor secretary to come from a union background in nearly 50 years. with walsh's confirmation, boston city council president kim janey has become interim mayor of boston, making her the first woman and first person of color to hold the office. the white house is preparing a $3 trillion infrastructure and jobs package as part of president biden's build back better agenda. "the washington post" reports the legislation will be broken into two parts. one package will focus on education and programs to increase the participation of women in the work force, including paid leave, universal pre-k, and free community

college. it would also extend the child tax credit for several years. a second part of the legislation focus on infrastructure like bridges, roads and waterways. it would reportedly provide $400 billion to combat climate change, including $60 billion for green transit. in comparison, congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez and senator elizabeth warren recently proposed a bill that would invest $500 billion in electric public transportation infrastructure. education secretary miguel cardona has canceled $1 billion in student loans for more than 70,000 people defrauded by for-profit colleges. the decision reverses a move by former education secretary betsy devos to limit student loan relief for people impacted by the collapse of for-profit colleges like corinthian and itt technical institute. louis dejoy, the trump-appointed postmaster general, is unveiling

a sweeping austerity plan for the u.s. postal service to reduce post office hours, increase postage prices, and slow down mail delivery. this comes just days after 50 house democrats wrote to president biden urging him to fire the entire board of governors of the united states postal service, which has the sole power to remove dejoy from his job. federal investigators are weighing whether to charge people who joined the january 6 insurrection at the u.s. capitol with seditious conspiracy -- the crime of seeking to overthrow the government. the justice department has not successfully prosecuted a sedition case in over two decades. this comes as prosecutors are preparing to discuss plea deals with some 300 suspects charged over the january 6 assault, which left five people dead. over the weekend, wisconsin republican senator ron johnson made headlines when he falsely claimed january 6 rioters were not violent. >> i honestly say, i do not feel

threatened a january 6. i didn't. there was much more violence on the house side. there is no violence on the senate side. amy: former president trump's lawyer sidney powell sought to dismiss a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit filed against her by dominion voting systems, saying no one should have believed her repeated false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. in a court filing, powell's lawyers write -- "no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact." the supreme court has agreed to consider the justice department's request to reinstate a death sentence for dzhokhar tsarnaev who is serving life in prison for his role in the deadly 2013 boston marathon@ bombing. last year, a lower court tossed out his death sentence but the trump justice department appealed.

and in atlanta, the husband of a woman who died in last week's mass shootings has revealed he was handcuffed and held by police for four hours after surviving the attack. mario gonzález said -- "i don't know whether it's because of the law or because i'm mexican. the simple truth is that they treated me badly." he didn't learn his wife delaina ashley yaun had died for hours. gonzález and his wife had gone to the spa together for massages and were in separate rooms when the gunman opened fire. they had married over the summer and had a baby girl. a total of eight people died in the attacks on three asian-owned spas last tuesday. seven of the victims were women, including six of asian descent. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york city joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners

and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: photos released on monday show migrant children crowded into holding areas separated by plastic sheeting at a temporary processing center near the u.s.-mexico border in donna, texas. there is no social distancing in effect as the children huddle on plastic mattresses, covered with foil sheets. the photos were shared by democratic congressman henry cuellar of texas with the news site axios. cuellar said eight pods that were meant to house 260 children were packed beyond capacity, with one pod housing over 400 boys. he said customs and border patrol agents were "not equipped to care for kids." there are now over 15,000 unaccompanied migrant children in u.s. custody as the number of asylum seekers at the southern border shows no sign of slowing down. over 5000 of those are being held in customs and border

protection jails. axios reports over 800 children have been jailed for over 10 days -- more than a fourfold increase over the past week. this comes as "the washington post" reports cbp has requested airplanes to traport asylum- seekers from the southern border to sites near the canadian border for processing. department of homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas appeared on multiple news shows over the weekend to say the u.s. border is effectively closed. close the border is closed. we are expelling families. we are expelling single adults and we have made a decision that we will not expel young, vulnerable children. amy: myorakas says officials are rebuilding systems the trump administration tore down. but republicans have tried to blame the emergency with migrant children's welfare on the new -- welfare. during an interview monday with former president donald trump, fox news host harris faulkner falsely reported mayorkas had resigned after less than seven weeks on the job.

>> the dhs secretary mayorkas has resigned, mr. president. pres. trump: i'm not surprised. that is a big victory for our country. >> me stop. let me listen to mighty one more time. forgive me. forgive me. that has not happened. amy: "that has that happened." for more, we are joined by luz lopez, senior supervising attorney with the immigrant justice project of the southern poverty law center. she came to the united states as a 10-year-old refugee with her family from el salvador, which she writes about in her recent op-ed for "the new york times" headlined "migrant children deserve better." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. if you can respond what is happening on the border, not under president trump at under president biden, and if you can fold in your own experienced in history and what needs to be done. >> thank you.

good morning. it truly is an honor to be here. thank you for this space. so what is happening at the southern border is shameful. we as a country should remain vigilant and hold any administration accountable regardless of political party with respect to our treatment of children seeking refuge who are fleeing countries that are in turmoil -- largely because of our geopolitical policies over the past several decades. and with respect to how this mirrors our journey, my family's journey to the united states, it really breaks my heart, amy, that when we came to the u.s. in 1980, i was accompanied by my parents and my brother my father had received a death threat.

he was a teacher, so was my mother. we were forced to flee el salvador. the united states was funding a war, funding the military that was killing thousands of people. we fled. we left everything we had. everyone we knew. our loved ones come our family, and set out for the u.s. where we had family in new york. if we had fled under the condions that exist now, i very likely would never have had the chance to serve for the united states u.s. department of juste. i never would have had the chance to sit here with you to talk about how we can do bter and we must do better for these children and these families. one of the things that concerns me the most is that while we recognize that the new

administration, the biden administration, has made some positive impact in overtures to ensure that there is a fairer process -- for example, they have removed -- should say they have revoked the law that, the memorandum that had required ice and orr, which generally processes unaccompaniedinors, unaccoanied childrewho ce to the u.s. seeking asylum, there has been this process in place where these two federal agencies share information. that has a chilling effect on many of the sponsorand family members who were seeking to reunite with these children

because ice was using this process, the process that should be full of hope and should be humane, as a means to identify and deport people, the sponsors who were seeking to reunite with family members. so we do recognize that the biden administration has made some positive -- taken some positive action, but the fact remains that children continued to come to the u.s. trying to seek refuge and solace and comfort away from the horrible situations that we find in the northern tribal in guatemala, el salvador, and honduras -- and in mexico, of course. what we as a country and we would like to hold the biden administration accountable for our policies that are humane,

family and child-centered. we have the means, amy, to be more efficient in terms of reuniting families and children at the border with their hosts here in the u.s. the biden administration acknowledges percent of folks or more who come to the border, because there is a relative, there is someone waiting for that person or that fami here in the u.s.. so instead of spending millions and millions of dollars on cbp and ice temporary shelters, makesht shelters for childre and families, we can actually divert those funds to ensuring a quicker, more efficient process through which we can reunite

these families with their sponsors. these children with their sponsors, who are family members , who are trusted people, and who are waiting for them here in the u.s. juan: i wanted to ask you, in terms of cash you mentioned when your family came in 1980, you and your family. but even back then, in the midst of civil wars in central america, the united states granted very few salvadora and guatemalan refugee status or asylum for those countries. what are the conditions that you feel warrant the asylum status now for those are coming across the border, even if they are nominally no conflicts existing in central america right now? >> thank you for the question, juan.

anyone who is familiar with the present situation in this country called the northern triangle -- honduras, guatemala, salvador -- knows that there is rampant crime, corruption, children -- adults are being murdered. there is lawlessness and terror in these countries. a lot of it goes back to come as i ntioned, these geopolitical gains united states used to play during the cold war, which have left these nations without infrastructure and without really any government structure that favors democracy. and as a result, we have children who are fleng crime, certain death at the hands of gangs and of a corrupt government or a government that may lack the means to protect

their own citizens. it is quite lawless. my family, i still have family in el salvador. each day things get worse because of covid of course has exacerbated the situation. there is a growing desperation. and while we do n want to play into the narrative that there is this surge and we don't want to spread any misinformation, we know the rate of children, families, a person coming to the u.s., has been steady. it has not suddenly spiked. it has been steady over the past year, t coincidentally because of covid. that has exacerbated these conditions in the northern triangle where crimes -- there is no protection for families,

for children. there are very few jobs. the economies in latin america are clapsing because of what is happening due to the pandemic. things were bad before. we need to be cognizant that many of the families, the people who are fleeing are doing so because opast policies that need to be remedied, yes. we must hold the biden administration accountable for working with those governments tonsure that folks in these areas are actually safe, that they have access to the vaccine which in el salvador, a country of millions, less than 30,000 people have begun to be vaccinated. so there are a lot of factors,

human factors that are driving children and families here. these are not new factors as you point out, but what is new is that this country in some was has lost its soul. juan: i wanted to ask you, in terms of the so-called surge that has much been reported of late, how much of that is actually, from what you can tell , new waves of migrants coming from the northern triangle and how many of those are people who have been shut out over the last several years by the trump administration and effectively dumped in mexico right across the border and now think with the new biden administration, there will be an opportunity to have their cases reconsided or their chances reconsidered? >> that is really good question. i do not have data that would indicate one way or another

whether the number of folks who are coming e primarily folks who stayed in mexico who were not permitted to access the asylum process that the u.s. is responsible for ensuring under international and domestic law. we have an asylum process in place that we seem to ignore. so i don't have data in terms of who were folks that remain in mexico that trump era policy where we completely abandoned the asylum process and did not even process the numbers of folks that we neededo. we asked people to stay. we had never done that. we do know there is not a surge. there is data by the american

immigratn counsel that shows the numbers have been fairly steady for the past year. what we are seeing, unfortunately, that concerns the communities that serve these children and families, is that we are sort of reverting to some of the trump era practices, where we are not pushing for means to efficiently come to quickly unite children and families with their u.s. sponsors that have been waiting for them. amy: we have to leave it there. 10 more seconds. >> i have hope. there are progressive members of congress that understand, that are willing to work with community organizations to ensure that children are protected and that we remain true to what the values of this country, what we tell the world the values of this country are.

amy: as you write a new article at children should be treated as children. luz lopez, thank you for being with us, senior supervising attorney with the southern poverty law center. when we come back, we will be joined by jean guerrero who just wrote a piece "the maga clowns making chaos at the border have ugly pasts." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] a

amy: "summer 78" by claire pichet and yann tiersen. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we look now at how two mexican social media influencers who are devoted trump supporters have been spreading false conspiracy theories abo the ongoing crisis at the u.s.-mexico border, warning their viewers in the united states of an orchestrated invasion and child trafficking funded by democrats. an explosive new report published monday in "the daily

beast" by reporter jean guerrero reveals one of the men was deported after serving time in prison for a federal drug-trafficking conviction, but was able to reenter the u.s. while trump was president. he is a livestreamer named oscar ramirez, or "oscar el blue," who calls himself an independent reporter and was feared on trump's former chief strategist ste bannon's podst "war room" several times this month. ramirez also contributes to a u.s. right-winmedia network called "real arica's voice this is a clip from one his reports. >> all the way over here, they put a wall to protect the united states and to protect his invasion that is happening. it was amazing. amy: so that is oscar ramirez or "oscar el blue." just this past april, ramirez reportedly reentered the u.s. at the el paso, texas, border crossing come along with anthony agüero, another right-wing influencer who allegedly took part in the january 6 insurrection and is a close friend of the qanon conspiracy

theorist and congressperson marjorie taylor greene. if you're having trouble all of this, let's go to jean guerrero, investigative journalist & author of "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." she has a new piece in "the daily beast" titled "the maga clowns making chaos at the border have ugly pasts." welcome back to democracy now! lay out what you have found. this is explosive. >> i look at the cases that two of these right-wing conspiracy theorists but oscar ramirez is the most shocking case. he is someone who as you said is with the federal drug truck having conviction in his past, which according to the immigration and nationality act at u.s. federal law on immigration, someone with that kind of conviction would be in immiscible to the united states after deportation. unless he were able to obtain a special visa waiver from the

attorney general himself or the state department. it would bimpossible for him to retrieve the united states without basically very strong political connection are working as an informant. i asked this ramirez the details of his visa. he refused to give them. he accused me and "the daily beast" of promoting child trafficking by trying to expose some of the things he is involved in. in additi to the tens of thousands of u.s.-based followers he has and spreading lies to, creating his history about alleged trafficking at the border when he himself has a federal drug trafficking conviction, it has been incredibly damaging. in addition to socia media following, he has been appearin regularly on a u.s. right-wing media outlet called "real america's voice."

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sociat e has en invold in numero phycal cfrtations with mignts. atne pointhe was cght on camera chasi anditerally physicly shovi a mignt childho was aroaching the border wh his faer to quest asylum. she was scrming ihis face chasg him arounand shing hiand lling him hwas not welcome the unid states she has nce apolized for that iident buremains prlematicharacte she is involvein an cident ich ros aac epithet were hled the asylum-seekers. she recely went thi migrt camp othousandof pele who are wting f their tu to reqst asylulegally inhe u.sandtarted broadcasng tir image incling chdren without the permsion, sothing th makes the ylum-seers numbe beuse of their precarious situatioin northern meco were many these a reiving

dehhrts, theris gan violence to worry about. they do not want their images broadcast. and these livestreamers have not been respecting the rights t privacy. oftenhey wi interew the undefalse prises and miranslad to the.s.-base audiens to cree more hyeria ando basicay inate all tse asylum-skers wh chil trafckers a cflate ur advocates with trfickeras well. juan:n terms somof them as you rept,ngage inexican chauvini towarcentral americanefugees? ose exacy. car ramirez, claimhe is only againstllegal iigration buthen you ok at hiideos and he tel his vwers tha ceral amerans arelazy" d at anyone w is tryi to co to the ited stas

thugh mexico frocentral erica is jt lookinfor "easoney" he pedes these very ract and negat stereopes about ctral amerans. th isometng tt is ver coon. it is an established problem this intnalized cism tha can ocr in tatx communit th have ereed very negati views tard centl americs, tard peop who are comingrom othe cntries w y ha darker sn th mexica. it is a veryommontraty with peoe who arpeddling white premist ideaso use people o col as shiel ainst acsations racism. so hing peop like pama zuni or osca ramirez on ese u. righting medi ole talkin abo "invasi of

horrible peoplat the borde hes blunt ausationsf racismn the u. right-ng mea outlets itreates aot of hysteri and hus the chces of tse asyl-seekerso ever fd a legal paway to thu.s. i oke toany who s they e afid of the livestrears, th make them sad aoncern it mig turn blic onion in the united stes again migratn andreate this asteria at will ultately leadhem to n find rege in this coury where there hoping to save their children's lives. amy: jean guerrero, thank you for being with us, wrote "the dawcily beast" piece that we will link to "the maga clowns making chaos at the border have ugly pasts." also author of "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." when we come back, go to

bessemer, alabama. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "soap star joe" by liz phair. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. the final week of voting has begun in one of the most closely watched union elections in decades. amazon workers in bessemer, alabama, are voting on whether to join the retail, wholesale and department store union and become the first unionized amazon warehouse in the united states. voting ends on march 29.

ballots have been sent to nearly 6000 workers, most of whom are black. amazon has fought labor organizing at the company for decades, but bloomberg is reporting amazon workers in baltimore, new orleans, portland, denver, and southern california are now also considering launching union drives. nationwide, amazon has over 1.3 million employees, making it the second largest private work force in the united states behind walmart. the unionization effort in alabama has attracted widespread support even from president biden. pres. biden: today and over the next few days and weeks, workers in alabama and all across america are voting on whether to organize a union in the workplace. this is vitally important, a vitally important choice as america grapples with the deadly pandemic, the economic crisis, and a reckoning on race. it reveals the disparities that still exist in our country. and there should be no

intimidation, no coercion, no threats, no antiunion propaganda. amy: congress members cori bush and other lawmakers recently traveled to bessemer, alabama, to support the unionization drive. last week, amazon worker jennifer bates, who is helping to organize in bessemer, testified before the senate. >> we hope with a union we will finally have a lev playing field. we hope will be able to talk to meone without being dismissed. we hope we will be able to rest morethat there will be change in the facility, take some of the stress of o bodies. we hope we get a living wage to be able to provide better for our families. we hope they will start to hear us and see us and treat usike human beings. it is frustring all we want is to mak amazon a better place to

work. yet amazon is acting like they are under attack. ybe if they spent less time and money trying to stop the union, they would hear what we are saying. and maybe they would create a company that is agood for workers in our commuty as it is for the shareholders and executives. amy: amazon worker jennifer bates testifying on capitol hill. this comes as a new sty out todafrom americans for tax fairness andhe institute for policy studies has found amazon ceo jeff bezos has seen his personal wealth increase by $65 billion since the pandemic began a year ago. that means bezos' wealth increased by an average of over $7.4 million every hour for the past year. meanwhile, amazon workers in bessemer and other locations are being forced to work 10 hour shifts with just two 15-minute bathroom breaks. we are joined now by two guests. re in new york, stuart appelbaum is with us, president

of the retail hotel and apartments for union stuff with us in bessemer, alabama, is michael foster, a member and organizer of the rwdsu who is helping lead the amazon unionization drive. he is also a poultry plant worker. michael, let's begin with you in bessemer. in this last week and a what message are you putting out a what are the tactics amazon is using to fight the unionization effort? >> hour effort right now is to encourage the employees to get their ballots out in the mail come to mail them out because that is the only way we can allow r voices to be heard. the amazon tactic they're using instea of going around from person to person telling them to vote no and just hope it of other stuff, they're not having meetings but they're going to individuals at a time and telling them these things.

juan: stuart appelbaum, these statements by president biden before the election or as the election is unfolding, i don't recall a president ever making a statement of any party before a major union drive in the country -- the impact of that and biden 's stance so far on the right of labor to organize? >> hello, everybody. you are right. it is the most pro union, pro-walker statement that has ev been made by a president of the united states. and that is so crucial in this election. amazon is trying to intimidate workers. they want them to be afraid's. what president biden's -- what president biden statement says is you may be of against perhaps

the most powerful corporation in the world, the wealthiest person in the world, but the president of the united states as your back and that is crucial for workers to be hearing. juan: the national labor relations board, the president will be able to have a majority on the board until probably later this year because the terms are staggered, but he did appoint the general counsel recently to the nlrb that is much more prolabor. could you talk about the impact that is having on the potential for future union drives? >> i would also mention what it is having on this union drive as well because labor law in this country is tilted for employers and to make it difficult for workers to ever be able to

achieve a union. and that is incredibly unfortunate. we saw that the truck board often sought to make it even worse for workers trying to organize. lengthening time periods, giving employers more time to try to intimidate and interfere with workers. we need to -- we need to change the way we conduct union elections in this country, but that means two things. it means we need to have a board composed of people who are going to be supportive of what is the policy of this country, which used to promote collective bargaining and unitization. and it also means that we have to change the laws in this country that now make it so difficult for workers trying to get a collective voice to be able to achieve unionization.

amy: i want to turn to journalist kim kelly with more perfect union to produce a video report that shows the mail ballot dropbox that has been placed right in front of the warehouse, even though the national labor relations board said amazon couldn't have one. this clip starts with joshua brewer with rwdsu. >> wn you seehis b, it is right the fro door. erhing at azon is acked. erythi is are ailabl is idea is massi box tha is0 feetrom the ont door of amazon i't ing survlled isudicus. somedy ilying. ther aman is lying or the postalervice is ing. we tend to belie amazon's lyg. ey have ld a lotf lies throhout thiprocs. at wenup overnight e send night azon saidt a te messagehat said "look, wenstall this x.

weon'have key we havreached t tohe postmaer in bsemer anhave t heard ck. ha a freed of informati requt out there andave not heard ba. its a lot pressurin differen areas tryinto figure out, nber one,id youven instalthis boxr is thi amazon's? oas t ks? who s accesso it? amy: that was amazon worker daryll craig. that last voice. michael foster, talk about the significance of this. >> well, the significance of it is that workers truly believe something is going on with this mailing box that why would

amazon want them to bring their ballots from home and bring it to the plant and put it in their mailbox when they can ju literally put it back in their own mailbox? people called me and asked me, is amazon stealing some of the ballots because they have seen people put their ballots in their mailbox and it is really scary. i believe it is intimidation so to speak. juan: i want to go back to stuart appelbaum, about advertising, constantly doing ads on television these days talking about their workforce and they trumpet the fact they pay $15 an hour. could you compare with the situation islet's say, an average amazon workplace to those of unionized warehouse

workers in a different parts of america? >> absolutely. amazon is trying to hide behind a fig leaf giving $15 an hour, but that wage rate is actually below what unionized warehouse is in the area are providing workers. it is also below the median wage in alabama. it is lowering the median wage as it is not enough for people to survive on. i also want to remind you that amazon cut people's wages in the middle of the pandemic. at the end of may, they eliminated the two dollar -- two dollar hazard pay they had been giving, even though the pandemic continued to rage, even though the hazards were just as bad if not worse as they had been before. why did they do it? they did not do it because they needed to. he talked about how much money bezos has made in this period.

they did it because i thought they could get away with it. oxfam put out a report that said if jeff bezos had given everyone of his employees a bonus of $105,000, he still would have been wealthier at the end of the pandemic than he was at the beginning. it is not just wages. it is working conditions. despite the wage that amazon pays, it has extraordinary turnover of more than 100% a year because people can't take those jobs at any cost at the way they're being abused within the workplace. amazon dehumanizes and mistreats its employees. it breaks them down and uses them up, and then just replaces them with other people. the working conditions are terrible. and that is what really needs to

change. amy: i want to go to a very significant anniversary that i'm sure you been the labor leader here in new york have been observing for years, stuart. thursday marks the 110th anniversary of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire, the deadliest workplace accident in new york city's history and a seminal moment for american labor. on march 25, 1911, 146 garment workers, mostly young immigrant women, jewish and italian, died after a fire broke out at the factory. many of them leaped to their deaths when they tried to escape and found the emergency exits locked. i want to play an excerpt of a radio piece i produced 35 years ago in 1986 along with kathy dobie. it was then the 75th anniversary of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. >> i was near where the fire

was. there were cutters cutting the material. it was time to go home. it was 4:00 on saturday. amy: i 94-year-old survivor of the triangle fire. >> i saw the fire filled with lingerie material. when i saw that, i ran out. i went to the door that was close. i found the door closed. i just stood there until he opened it. 40 people going on the steps. we all tumbled one after another. i saw people throwing themselves from the window. as soon as we went down, we could not get out because the bodies were coming down. it was terrible. >> women that died were young jewish, italian immigrants. they tried to escape down the stairs but found the doors locked. the owners believed given the

chance, workers would sneak out was still the material and union organizers would sneak in. amy: the single fire escape collapsed. women fell nine stories to the sidewalk below. inside the factory, fire spread quickly and with no exit left to them, the women climbed through the windows and left to their death. >> while some union members can, seven and triangle victims light buried in a cemetery. union members pay their respects and read the stone marker about the women's graves. >> miss of the sr citizens of new york -- >> over the grave of unidentified women and children who with 139 others -- by fire in the factory washington place. >> march 25, 1911. amy: that report done for the

75th anniversary of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. i interviewed the last survivor of that fire. now it is the 110th anniversary. stuart appelbaum, in addition to being president of rwdsu, you are a long-time union activist, vice president of the national afl-cio. can you talk about the significance of this moment in history and what it means for today? >> the importance of this election in bessemer, alabama, transcends the one workplace. it even transcends this one company. it is really about the future and how workers are going to be treated and our economy going forward. whether or not people are going to be abused or whether or not they're going to be treated with respect. that is why this fight is so important. as mike can tell you, many

workers talk about how they feel like they are being treated as robots being managed by other robots. it is not the way we want workers to be treated. we did not want them to be treated as they were in the triangle shirtwaist factory and we saw the extraordinarily horrific consequences of that treatment. and we got what workers anywhere to be treated the way workers at amazon are being treated today. something needs to change. what the courageous workers in bessemer, alabama, are doing is stamping -- standing up for that change. i don't see how we can't be more inspired by all of them. juan: stewards, i wanted to get your reaction to the approval by

the senate of president biden's nominee for secretary of labor for boston mayor marty walsh, the first time in 50 years that a union member, former union member leader is named secretary of labor? >> i think that is very significant. joe biden said when he was running for president that he wanted a union leader to be in his cabinet, and he has delivered on that promise. we have someone who understands what it means to be a working person as the secretary of labor, someone who has devoted a good portion of his life to working with unions and trying to make conditions better and who understands what this is all about. and i am delighted that marty walsh is our new secretary of labor. amy: stuart appelbaum, thank you

for being with us, president of the retail, wholesale, and department store union. and michael foster, rwdsu organizer, leading the charge to unionized ama