Build Worker Power in the South - Join the Southern Workers Assembly
The Southern Workers Assembly (SWA) is a network of local unions, worker organizations, and organizing committees, committed to building rank-and-file democratic social movement unionism in the South. Learn more >>>
Solidarity with Bessemer, Alabama Amazon Workers!
Between Feb 8, and March 29, approximately 6,000 majority Black Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama will begin voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU). Solidarity from every corner of the labor and progressive movement is needed now to support this historic struggle. Learn more >>>
Southern Workers Fight for Medicare for All
Safe Jobs Save Lives Campaign
Workers across the US South are on the move demanding workplace safety amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic. Southern workers also need a strategy and self-organization to secure any gains they make through collective action. Learn more >>>
Bessemer, Alabama Amazon Workers Fight to Win Union
Between Feb 8, and March 29, approximately 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama will begin voting by mail on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU).
These predominantly Black workers who have in recent months formed the BAmazon Workers Union, are on the cusp of launching a history-changing workers organization against one of the biggest and most powerful transnational corporations in the world, and its super rich union busting owner, Jeff Bezos. In addition, these workers are standing up to the racist, anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South.
Solidarity from every corner of the labor and progressive movements is needed now to show the workers in Bessemer that they are not alone, that all eyes are on the historic struggle that they are leading. This is especially needed as Amazon ramps up their union-busting tactics.
A Workers Guide to Meatpacking | Una guía para trabajadores sobre la industria de productos cárnicos
Bilingual English-Spanish!
A new booklet from the Southern Workers Assembly
⇒ Learn the facts and the fights across 16 southern states
⇒ Get the answers to ten basic questions about meat work in COVID time
¡Bilingüe español-inglés!
Un nuevo folleto de la Asamblea de Trabajadores del Sur
⇒ Los hechos y las peleas en 16 estados del sur
⇒ Las respuestas a diez preguntas básicas sobre el trabajo de la carne en el tiempo de COVID
News & Updates
Nissan manufacturing workers continue 13 year battle to build a union in Mississippi
SWA leaders got to meet with Nissan workers in Mississippi at the Dec. 9-11 Southern Human Rights Organizing Conference. They also joined a solidarity rally in front of their plant. They are...
With FLOC’s help, Sweet Potato Farmworkers Win a Union Contract
In 2014, four members of FLOC courageously spoke out against issues at Burch Farms in Faison North Carolina, exposing violations that many of their coworkers were too afraid to speak about. They...
Virginia Workers Push Back Right-To-Work (for less) at Voting Booth
By Southern Workers Assembly On November 8, a ballot initiative that would have put the state’s right-to-work (for less) status in the state constitution was defeated in Virginia thus securing an...
Tennessee is Not for Sale! #TNisNotForSale University Workers Fight Privatization!
By Tom Smith, CWA In August 2015, United Campus Workers (a Communication Workers of America local union) learned of a secret plan being pushed by Tennessee’s Governor Bill Haslam to privatize the...
Statements
Solidarity with 3,000 Striking UAW Workers in Dublin, VA!
The following solidarity statement, issued on behalf of the Southern Workers Assembly, was written by Al Long, a retired IT worker and SWA member in Norfolk, VA. Sisters and Brothers of UAW 2069,...
Bessemer Amazon Union Vote: We Learn as We Struggle!
In spite of the vote count, important developments have resulted from the Bessemer Amazon workers’ campaign. We applaud the Alabama Amazon workers who took on the world’s second largest corporation...
March 20: Actions Planned Across the South in Solidarity with Bessemer Amazon Workers
On March 16, Southern Workers Assembly co-coordinator Saladin Muhammad spoke alongside Hammer & Hoe author and Alabama labor historian Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley on a national webinar about the...
Solidarity with Bessemer Amazon Workers Grows – Upcoming Actions
Solidarity for Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama fighting to organize their union with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) has continued to expand across the country and...