Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Amazon is the largest company in the world with over 1 million employees in the U.S. alone. A monolith responsible for trillions of dollars of revenue through retail, entertainment, and infrastructure.
Chris Smalls took it on anyway, leading the fight for the first successful Amazon warehouse union in the United States.
Pull up a white plastic chair beside us in Chris's backyard as he leans back behind dark shades and plumes of smoke to tell us how working at Amazon is like slavery, what's happening with human jobs as automation skyrockets, whether unions can be effective today, what politicians represent the working class, his 3 most formative books, and much, much more...
Let’s flip the page to Chapter 143 now...
To learn more about Chris and read the full show notes, go here 👉🏾 3books.co/chapters/143
00:00 Amazon is a Terrible Job
11:45 Fighting Back is Dangerous
14:42 Police Surveillance of Protesters
18:03 Will Amazon Recognize the Union?
23:05 Automation Will Replace Jobs
28:12 Chris Smalls Goes Viral at Congress
32:49 Media Ignores Labor News
37:13 Amazon is a Monopoly
40:07 'My Life' by Fidel Castro
46:00 First Amazon Warehouse Union in the US
49:34 Robots Are Dehumanizing Work
52:06 'Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell)' by Jane McAlevey
58:03 Teamster Affiliation and Building Coalitions
1:02:28 Whole Worker Organizing
1:04:49 Democrats are Delusional
1:08:28 'It's Not You It's Capitalism' by Malaika Jabali
1:11:42 What Socialist Countries Get Right
1:19:14 "We Deserve Better"
1:20:36 End of the Podcast Club
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SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/2HHWPYg
Hey there,
I'm Neil and I spend a ton of time thinking, writing, podcasting, and speaking about living intentionally. I'm the New York Times bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. I've been lucky to speak at places like TED, SXSW, and Google. And I host a huge passion project called the 3 Books podcast.
Want more 3 Books? Check out my top interviews with:
Brené Brown youtube.com/watch?v=X5l-Auv7h8Y
Quentin Tarantino youtube.com/watch?v=VVFdvfiPB-w
David Sedaris youtube.com/watch?v=wzz8tqnz1mI
Want to read more of my stuff?
https://www.neil.blog/archive/
Want to check out my podcast?
3books.co
Want to learn about my live events?
globalhappiness.org/speaking
Want my monthly book recos?
1000awesomethings.com/reading-club
Want my articles on intentional living?
https://www.neil.blog/newsletter/
I am also on the following drugs:
Facebook: facebook.com/NeilPasricha
Twitter: twitter.com/neilpasricha
Instagram: instagram.com/neilpasricha
Lastly, thanks so much for watching this vid.
👊,
Neil
neil@globalhappiness.org
Amazon is the largest company in the world with over 1 million employees in the U.S. alone. A monolith responsible for trillions of dollars of revenue through retail, entertainment, and infrastructure.
Chris Smalls took it on anyway, leading the fight for the first successful Amazon warehouse union in the United States.
Pull up a white plastic chair beside us in Chris's backyard as he leans back behind dark shades and plumes of smoke to tell us how working at Amazon is like slavery, what's happening with human jobs as automation skyrockets, whether unions can be effective today, what politicians represent the working class, his 3 most formative books, and much, much more...
Let’s flip the page to Chapter 143 now...
To learn more about Chris and read the full show notes, go here 👉🏾 3books.co/chapters/143
00:00 Amazon is a Terrible Job
11:45 Fighting Back is Dangerous
14:42 Police Surveillance of Protesters
18:03 Will Amazon Recognize the Union?
23:05 Automation Will Replace Jobs
28:12 Chris Smalls Goes Viral at Congress
32:49 Media Ignores Labor News
37:13 Amazon is a Monopoly
40:07 'My Life' by Fidel Castro
46:00 First Amazon Warehouse Union in the US
49:34 Robots Are Dehumanizing Work
52:06 'Raising Expectations (and Raising Hell)' by Jane McAlevey
58:03 Teamster Affiliation and Building Coalitions
1:02:28 Whole Worker Organizing
1:04:49 Democrats are Delusional
1:08:28 'It's Not You It's Capitalism' by Malaika Jabali
1:11:42 What Socialist Countries Get Right
1:19:14 "We Deserve Better"
1:20:36 End of the Podcast Club
-
SUBSCRIBE: bit.ly/2HHWPYg
Hey there,
I'm Neil and I spend a ton of time thinking, writing, podcasting, and speaking about living intentionally. I'm the New York Times bestselling author of six books including The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. I've been lucky to speak at places like TED, SXSW, and Google. And I host a huge passion project called the 3 Books podcast.
Want more 3 Books? Check out my top interviews with:
Brené Brown youtube.com/watch?v=X5l-Auv7h8Y
Quentin Tarantino youtube.com/watch?v=VVFdvfiPB-w
David Sedaris youtube.com/watch?v=wzz8tqnz1mI
Want to read more of my stuff?
https://www.neil.blog/archive/
Want to check out my podcast?
3books.co
Want to learn about my live events?
globalhappiness.org/speaking
Want my monthly book recos?
1000awesomethings.com/reading-club
Want my articles on intentional living?
https://www.neil.blog/newsletter/
I am also on the following drugs:
Facebook: facebook.com/NeilPasricha
Twitter: twitter.com/neilpasricha
Instagram: instagram.com/neilpasricha
Lastly, thanks so much for watching this vid.
👊,
Neil
neil@globalhappiness.org
