This warehouse worker became the face of a union push at

On the other, tractor yards and dry yellow fields, and behind them dense pine forests extending into the hills. They start at a. For a time, the lead organizer slept in his pickup truck to make the first shift change.

Jennifer Bates was thrust into the national spotlight after her efforts to help organize a union at the Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama.

Twenty organizers have lived out of a nearby Fairfield Inn for months, trading off shifts. It was at this light where many employees signed union cards, formally pledging their support. And then, one day, red lights at the signal started getting much shorter. Amazon convinced officials in Jefferson County, where Bessemer is located, to change the timer on the red traffic light outside the warehouse, leaving fewer seconds for organizers to chat with workers.

The geography of the area makes organizing a union difficult. The fulfillment center, which abuts Alabama Adventure, a theme park Rampage, a wooden roller coaster that reaches heights of feet and speeds of 56 MPH, is its main attraction , is inaccessible to the public. Workers commute by car from Birmingham and its surrounding suburbs.

In February, I visited Bessemer for four days. On the day I visited, reporters, photographers, organizers, and Amazon warehouse workers flowed in and out of the union hall, eating free danishes, many waiting to talk to Brewer. Supporters say the union will give them dignity, and the simple grace of being treated more like humans and less like robots by a company with notoriously brutal working conditions.

Amazon, owned by the richest man in the world, could simply let the union happen. But the deal also came at a high cost. Despite months of attention on the union drive from local and national media, Gulley has not commented substantially on the unionization effort.