Transcript for today’s podcast:
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Monroe Gazette, coming to you from the George Carlin Memorial Podcast Studio. I’m your host, BJ Mendelson.
This week’s episode features an interview with Keith Williams, who is a Community Organizer with For The Many in Dutchess County.
For The Many is a grassroots, people-powered organization working, to make New York State government more responsive.
And as our listeners know, New York State is anything but when it comes to the needs of non-Haredi residents in Orange and Rockland County.
That’s why I thought it would be useful to highlight organizations such as For the Many.
I think it’s important, when you’re dealing with a situation like South Blooming Grove, that you know what options you have. For The Many is just one option. There are others. I’m going to find them and share them all with you as I can.
I also wanted to talk with Keith Williams because, right here in Southern Orange County, we have a real problem with wealthy real estate developers controlling our local elected officials. For example: In Monroe, you have Town Supervisor Tony Cardone and Town Board members Dorey Houle and Sal Scancarello. For proof that they’re controlled by the developers, just look at their constant delays at passing, and ultimately the watering down, Monroe’s New Tree Code.
In Woodbury, you have Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani, Town Councilman Brandon Calore, and Village Trustees James Freiband and Matthew Fabbro.
These are all Democrats and Republicans that don’t represent you. They represent Haredi developers like Ziggy Brach and non-Haredi developers such as Wayne Corts.
Across our area, there’s often very little pushback to this. Sure we see complaints on Facebook. And when you talk to people at Shoprite, they tell you they don’t like the overdevelopment.
But a lot of these people? They also don’t do anything about it. I’m not blaming them. This isn’t easy. And like I just pointed out, this isn’t a Democrat or Republican problem. Both parties are corrupt. That’s true in Southern Orange County. That’s true in Albany. And that’s true in Washington D.C.
That’s the bad news. The good news is, you have options. For The Many is one. Here’s another: This Saturday, June 7th at 1pm over at the corner of Lake Street and 17M from 1pm to 2pm, rain or shine, will be another Indivisible Monroe gathering.
If you have a problem with the overdevelopment, you should be there.
If you have a problem with the corrupt Democrats and Republicans in our community, you should be there.
Otherwise, you’re just wasting everyone’s time with Facebook comments. Facebook is not a solution. In fact, it’s very much part of the problem. That’s why I only use it to get people offline. I’m using the machine against itself, and you should too.
These Indivisible events, like the one on June 7th, are non-partisan and welcoming Democrats, Republicans, and Independents living in the Southern Orange County area.
And I want to stress again, these events are for protesting BOTH parties. So if you want to bring a sign that says Schumer Sucks? Let me know! I’ll come and hold one up too.
I stress this point because every time anyone says something about Trump, the response you usually here is, “Well the Democrats suck too.” And those people are absolutely, positively, 100% right.
The Democrats Suck.
The difference is, the Republicans claim to represent the working class while, actually only working for the wealthy.
The Democrats work for the wealthy, but can be forced to work for the working class. You see the difference?
We can change one of those parties for sure. I don’t know yet if we can change both. I hope so. But right now I’m not too enthusiastic about it.
So, if you live in in Monroe, Woodbury, Chester, or Blooming Grove, these events, like the one on June 7th at 1pm over on the corner of Lake Street and 17M, are for you. If you can’t make the event on the 7th, I have good news. There will be another one on June 21st, at the same time and in the same location.
And yes, stay tuned for more information on local No Kings Day events in our area. So far there is one planned in Rockland and three in Orange County for the national day of protest on June 14th.
These Indivisible events are meant to protest the MAGA President and the Congressional Republicans enabling his agenda, like our Congressman next door, Mike Lawler. That’s absolutely true.
But. And, for the Republicans listening, I want you to hear me on this: These gatherings are ALSO designed to protest against the Schumer Democrats like Senator Kristin Gillibrand, who voted yes on Trump nominees like Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who is currently making it unsafe to fly. And she is also pushing BS cryptocurrency legislation in the Senate, which does nothing for anybody except violate our constitution’s emoluments clause and make the Trump family wealthier.
Remember, friends, while this is not financial advice, you should know that all forms of cryptocurrency are just another Ponzi scheme. You should not put any money into this, and you should fight like hell to make sure your pensions and other investments are not tied up with it either. If you think the Global Financial Crisis triggered in 2008 was bad, just wait until this crypto bubble bursts. Again.
Senator Gillibrand isn’t the only state Democrat working for the wealthy instead of the working class. Here in Southern Orange County, State Senator Skoufis has completely abandoned the people of South Blooming Grove. He is also currently meddling in both the Monroe and Woodbury elections on behalf of wealthy real estate developers. You see, Mr. Skoufis thinks the wealthy real estate developers are going to buy him a Congressional seat, once Congressman Pat Ryan decides to run for higher office.
And so, Senator Skoufis has set up a new committee to attack those who oppose handing both Monroe and Woodbury to the real estate developers.
Meet Protect-Monroe Woodbury: James G. Skoufis’s Latest Scam
Help Us Help You Stop Protect Monroe-Woodbury
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Call It What It Is: The Big Beautiful Bill is the MAGA Murder Bill
Not to be outdone, our Democratic Assemblyman, Chris Eachus, also refuses to support the New York Health Act. This is despite the fact that, right now in Washington, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill — what we’re calling the MAGA Murder Bill — would cut up to $800B from Medicaid and, through an obscure law known as PAYGO, up to $500B in Medicare. That means, if this Bill is passed as proposed, people in our area who receive either Medicare or Medicaid coverage could expect to pay more for their medications, have fewer conditions covered by their insurance, and be unable to see their doctor.
So what’s Chris Eachus and James G. Skoufis doing about this? Nothing.
Because neither man, and Chris Eachus’s Chief of Staff David Rabbitts — currently running to be Town of Monroe Supervisor — support the New York Health Act.
If that makes you mad, it should, and you should come out on June 7th to protest this. Like I said, these events are for everyone. If you don’t like Democrats and Republicans working for the wealthy instead of working for you, then come on down to one of these protests. You are welcome there.
And just real quick before we move on, I want to stress that these cuts are only being made because there’s very little actual waste, fraud, and abuse to be found in these programs. That was the whole gimmick, you’ll recall, with Elon Musk and DOGE. He’d find the waste, fraud, and abuse, and in return, those savings could be used to fund the Trump Tax Cuts.
But Musk couldn’t find that waste, fraud, and abuse, could he? That’s why he got the black eye, allegedly, after Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allegedly assaulted Musk. Why was he alleged to have assaulted Musk? Because Bessent, like everyone else in MAGA Land, thought Musk was going to save everyone $2T. He didn’t. In fact, Musk ignored bipartisan letters from Senators like Elizabeth Warren who encouraged Musk and DOGE to work with her in eliminating waste and fraud.
As I hope you know by now, that $2T number got revised all the way down to $20B. And the cuts Musk did make? It’s on track to kill hundreds and thousands of people by eliminating the food and medicine they were receiving through USAID. Those cuts also weakened America’s soft power, giving an opportunity for China and Russia to increase their global influence.
So let’s be clear: In exchange for that $180B of alleged cuts? Musk made the world a less safer place for women, children, the elderly, and our men and women in the armed services. Our military is now going to have to deal with potential conflicts that will stem from the loss of our influence and aid.
Plus, there’s all this damage you and I now have to deal with:
Here’s what Musk did do instead: Musk appointed his flunkies all over the government, stole your data, and cancelled every single investigation into his businesses. And that Golden Dome scam Trump is currently selling you? The one Ronald Reagan wasted nearly $500B on in the ‘80s? Most defense experts agree that the missile defense system, as proposed, is completely impractical. But you know who benefits from it? Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which would receive billions in no-bid government contracts to build a system that won’t keep you safe.
That my friends, is why, always and forever, you should not drive a Tesla, use Twitter, or patronize any of Musk’s businesses. And the first thing that should happen when the Democrats retake the house? All of those investigations Musk’s businesses should be restored, Musk and his friends at DOGE should be investigated for violations of The 1974 Privacy Act, and Musk should be deported.
We can have nice things in America. We can have nice things in Southern Orange County.
But you have to organize. And you have to ask for them.
Otherwise, you get situations like the one involving Medicare and Medicaid. Because of DOGE’s failure, in order to fund Trump’s tax cuts for the rich, the only place to make equivalent cuts to offset the loss in revenue is with Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
That’s because neither Democrats or Republicans wants to make the bold move and cut the real sources of waste, fraud, and abuse, which includes our spending on immigration enforcement and in our defense budget. Remember, there was a very conservative bipartisan bill on reforming our nation’s border and immigration system. President Trump killed it, and then bragged about doing so, to get himself elected.
Now, I’m not saying resistance doesn’t exist in Southern Orange County. Monroe has the Preserve Monroe ballot line featuring Maureen Richardson, Louis Rivera, and Bethany Stephens, and Woodbury has the We The People of Woodbury line, which features Tara Burek and current mayor Andrew Giacozomma. All candidates, by the way that James G. Skoufis’s Protect Monroe-Woodbury is now running attacks on.
It’s our responsibility to support these candidates, and to organize ourselves to ask for what we want.
We can have nice things here in America. And we can have nice things here in Southern Orange County. But you have to get offline. You have to join a protest event. And you have to start organizing. That’s why I thought it was important to speak with Mr. Williams today. So let’s let’s get to our interview.
Interview With Keith Williams, For The Many Dutchess County Community Organizer
Picture provided by For The Many from the May 1st May Day Event in Newburgh.
(The following transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.)
Keith: My name is Keith Williams. I was born and raised in Newburgh, New York. I now live in Poughkeepsie. I work at For the Many as the Dutchess County Community Organizer. I'm a proud member of the Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America. I've been working since I was 13 and I've never seen a job treat anyone fairly. And it was when I was at Amazon and I got injured, I started talking to some of my coworkers and we started organizing and fighting for our rights and what we deemed as, just normal human treatment that we should be offered.
And for a company like Amazon, such a big company like Amazon, to fail on a daily basis to meet the basic needs for their employees, like providing water or long enough breaks, it was ridiculous.
They asked me if was I willing to speak up and I was like, always, like this needs to be known like if they're willing to do this and in broad daylight, they shouldn't be afraid to have it be told in broad daylight also. And you know every every March on the Boss, you know every talk, you know that the teamsters needed somebody, I was always there, they were like, you know, do you want to go to Albany? I was like, absolutely!
And that's one of the reasons that I met For The Many. Met Jonathan. Going to New York City to speak about Amazon's treatment of its employees. You know, it was a great time. I got to be on such a big public stage. Eventually, we went down to Washington, D.C. and … Once again, my friend from Amazon got me involved with Caring Majority Rising during the election. And I did an awesome job there. You know, they told me, and Jonathan said that he saw that drive that I had with the Teamsters, that drive that I had with Caring Majority, and was like, you would make a great addition at For the Many. And it was December of … November of last year when I started working for them, and it's been amazing.
BJ: That's awesome. Let me, I want to go into a little bit more detail just so people understand your journey at Amazon. Do you remember what you were doing when you first applied to work there? Like what was it that brought you to Amazon in the first place?
Keith: You know, you're always hearing about Amazon [was a] great place to work. I that you could make so much there. And, you know, like I was totally sold on what they were selling because they were everywhere. Amazon was everywhere. And I had worked at other warehouses and I was like, you know, if I want to get the best treatment? I'd probably go to the people that have the most money to facilitate that. That their machines would be in better condition, that their warehouses would be in better condition. And because it was such a, in the public eye, a company, you know, what could they be doing wrong that people didn't know about? But when you have such a big machine like them, like so much goes on unnoticed, and it wasn't until like I got hurt that the curtain really fell. I was like, they have no idea what they're doing.
Unsafe Conditions at Amazon Warehouse
BJ: So let me, because we're going to get to that in a second, but people hear like these horror stories all the time about the day to day that you can't even go to the bathroom without someone monitoring it, for example. So I'm just curious, what was the day-to-day like before the injury happened? What are the things that you experienced where you were kind of like, oh, this doesn't seem right?
Keith: To know exactly what the employee was doing every second and if that every second wasn't put towards Amazon's product moving through that warehouse, that they took issue with. That they never, anytime they did say, oh, here's what you need to do, they would always move that line.
And then when that wasn't enough, then they started to just be like, oh, it goes on a scale. So if someone's picking 100 [items] per hour, we need all of you to do that too. It was like, it's like some of these people […] They're a stamped as a robot, like a version T-TEC X22. And then they're all going to perform exactly the same. That's what they wanted. And it was brutal. And there was one time when I forgot my water bottle. It was on a hot day. They were like, stay hydrated. And I was like, hey, I don't have a water bottle. It's like, you guys have bottles of water. And the manager was like, no, go ask Safety. And Safety was like, no, that's kind of like your manager thing. And I went back to my manager. They said, you have the water. And it was like, this is a big company, and there's no place that somebody can get water, but they want us to stay hydrated.
And there's no air moving in the building. You go up and there's like a heat haze and you can feel the difference. And you got people passing out while they're in the air and their thing is ‘take better care of yourself.’ And it's like, or you can just change the conditions? You know, pump that AC a little bit, spend that extra, you know, billion. And yeah, that's all we were asking for was like little adjustments and they were like, come on.
BJ: Let me ask you about the Safety Inspectors.
Keith: Yeah, so there are six to eight individuals to have all this training protocol. So when I was, I had a box fall on me. I informed my supervisor and we were at the back of the warehouse. So it's about 200, 300 feet to the front. And I just got, you know, struck in the head and he was like, ‘oh, walk up to Safety.’ And so, like, here I am just trying to deal with the pain and like they have these golf carts … Safety had these golf carts. That they're supposed to provide, and like no one was alerted.
And then when I do meet a Safety guy I'm like ‘hey!’ He sees me stumbling [and asks] ‘hey are you okay?’ I'm like I'm on my way to Safety because a box just hit me and then he's like alright I'm gonna walk you up there and then the guy sits me down.
And he's like, all right, he's going to take care of you. And then I get asked the same questions, the same five questions, like what happened? What were you doing? Who was there? By five different people. And then I got asked if you know, if aspirin and [a] ice pack was going to be enough? If not, then it would have to be a whole report.
And my manager would then have to get involved. I was like, I'm in pain. I would like to go see a doctor.
So I spent the next hour and a half in there. Answering the questions again once the managers came in, because I had to answer them again once the managers came in.
And the guy who was supposed to be processing the claim had never processed a claim before. So he didn't know quite what to do. And so I was like, instead of sitting here in pain, can I go to urgent care and then come back? And he was like, yeah, and then we should have everything figured out. And then I spent an hour and a half in urgent care.
I came back.
They still didn't have everything figured out. That's crazy. And it was just like, I don't understand is … You guys are saying you have five people getting hurt per day but you don't have the people here to be able to facilitate that?
And he was like all right you can head home because I wanted to go pick up my medication. My pain medication. And go home. He was like ‘all right in 48 to 72 hours you should receive a phone call’ and I got referred by the urgent care to go see a specialist.
I tried to call to do that. And it was like, we need your worker's comp number. So I go back to work the next day. And they're like, hey, I need my worker's comp number. They said you should at least have that. And once again, the same guy was like, oh, no, no, 48 to 72 hours, they're going to contact you. And they're going to give you that. But luckily for me, I guess the one person that did know their job happened to also be there and said, no, if you filled out that form the right way, his worker's comp number should have been the first thing to spit out that would allow him to do everything while the claim is set in place. And then I had to wait another hour for her to do it the correct way.
BJ: You mentioned five people get hurt a day. Did you see this happen? Did you see other people get hurt and have this similar... Basically, it sounds like a circus, right? It doesn't sound like they know what to do when someone gets hurt. Did you see this happen more than once?
Keith: Absolutely. Each time I was there, we had at least one or two people come. And this is what was actually said to me by the safety person. They said that we don't have enough safety staff. We have five people getting hurt per day. We are overloaded, understaffed, and undertrained. And like we even said in a talk with the manager, like we understand that that's a problem. And that should be sent up the chain. But we as workers still deserve 100 % of the care that Amazon offers.
And they [management] were just, you know, just threw their hands up. They were like, ‘we could only do what we can do.’
And I was like, why isn't that a valid excuse when we say that as people? You're a whole billion-dollar company, but we as people can't be like, ‘hey, I'm doing all I can today.’ And yeah, it got to be like, where does our grace come in? You guys just constantly get to not complete your job but still have a job. What they can do is hire more people to help.
BJ: So let me ask you, you get injured, and what happens next? How did Amazon treat you after you were injured on the job?
Just Keep Pressing The Enter Key
Keith: So they basically said that they didn't have any work for me. Because work duty is determined by a computer, and they put my injury into a computer, and then that computer spits out what I'm able to do that day. And that computer was like ‘nothing.’
And so like other employees, I was set to just be like in this human circus in the middle of the warehouse where we just sat at a computer and pushed the enter key over and over again until something popped up on the screen. There were times when we'd go three whole days and nothing would pop up on the screen.
And that's where we were. And people were just looking at us like, ‘what are they doing?’ Even other managers who were visiting were like, what are you doing here? And I was like, I was told to be here. And it got to a point to where it happened like three days in a row, and to where a different person was like, what are you doing here? Why are you sitting here?
Then I went to HR about it. I was like, this is ridiculous. That we're told to sit here, but we're being questioned, ‘why are we sitting here?’ Like this building has rooms, like we could sit in a room and press this, but you have us in the middle of the warehouse, in this open warehouse, like a human zoo to be looked at.
People were just cracking jokes about, ‘how's the finger from pressing the button today?’ and that's what we were subjected to.
BJ: When were you first approached about joining a union?
Keith: Yes. That's when I told them that I knew every business can do improvements, but I didn't know Amazon was blatantly disregarding their own rules, disregarding government rules, and disregarding humanity’s rules.
I was like Amazon needs a union. It desperately needs it because there's so many people that go in and out of here. Some of them have life long injuries and life-changing injuries and Amazon is just spitting them out. Just being like, oh no, we're great, we're great. It was like you want it faster? You want it bigger? We can do it and we're just... turning out broken humans for Amazon's billions.
BJ: What was it like participating in the first march? You mentioned the March on your Boss. What was that like for you to be part of that?
Keith: I'm not gonna lie. It was terrifying. But seeing everyone there and standing up like you weren't alone and seeing that...you know, the whole manager's demeanor change. They know that they can't just give us that one excuse and send us on our way. Not with all of us there demanding answers.
Like that pushed back against the fear of going up there and it filled me with this sense of purpose and sense of belonging. It's like, we can do this. It was like them and all their power and all their confidence before now completely changed.
No Kings in Rhinebeck
Pictured Above: Video from the May 1st May Day Parade held in Newburgh.
BJ: Yeah it seems that people don't understand the power that they have. Like you can stand up to bullies. And so speaking of which, on June 14th in Rhinebeck, I know you're going to give a speech as part of the National No King's Day protest. So I want to ask you a little bit about that event and share a little bit of what you want to talk about then.
Keith: Yeah, so. That's a huge day. Like normally, I didn't know too much about Flag Day. I knew that the Army was, celebrating the Army being created. And then I heard Trump's plans for that day and it's like, that is the wrong message to send right now.
It's like the first thing you're gonna do is show people bombs?
That was not the thing to show the future.
It was like, when has that ever been a thing? It's like a movie scene. That's the thing you see in movies, leading up to our doom. And so I felt the need. I was like, I have to say something and I didn't want to hold back this time and be call Trump something he's not. And you know, basically sugar coat it.
It's like, no, this man is a child throwing a fit and he's mad because he can't get his way. And that has never been okay for someone like this to do this normally. So why is it ok for such a prestigious position like president of the United States to behave in this manner?
BJ: Absolutely. Now, let me ask you, I read the statement you sent to For The Many, and you mentioned your kids a few times. And I was just curious, what would you say to them about the work that you've done about standing up to Amazon and speaking out against the Trump administration? What is it that you would like to share with them?
Keith: That my hope is that I've prepared them enough and shown them the right way and that you don't have to beat other people down to be powerful.
You don't have to … like kindness is the best thing that you can show the world because the world is a reflection of you. And that you're my chance to try to make a little piece of the world better. And I've always wanted to make sure that, in spite of anything that has happened to you, anything that you've gone through, that you can always choose to be different. And that it's never too late to change and to stay and always try to strive to be a hero to those around you.
BJ: I think that’s a message we all need to hear. Where can we learn more?
Keith: So yeah, we have our monthly community meetings. We had our recent one here in Poughkeepsie. ForTheMany.org. All our socials @ForTheMany to see what we're all about. And to see the victories that we have had and the fights that we're in. I feel that For the Many is more than anything letting people know that you have this power and we're gonna be with you to the end. And we just want you to be a part of it.
(A note to Monroe Gazette readers: We’ve reached out to Amazon’s PR team to ask for comment on the conditions at their warehouses in Orange, Duchess, and Rockland County and will update this post to include their response, if any.)
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