Chris Smalls and Jason Anthony address the media after their victory. Photo: Jason Szenes / EPA “You have to be open and honest with this company,” he added. Attracting politicians or celebrities to rally votes, strategies used during a failed union vote in Alabama, was also not a winning strategy, as many officials “do not even know who these politicians are,” Smalls said. Instead, Smalls and Palmer approached their colleagues with simpler methods, creating a gathering place at a bus stop used by employees to get home. There, they distributed food to their colleagues – partly funded by GoFundMe donations – and discussed employee complaints. “Once they got out of their honeymoon phase, they came straight on stage, they registered,” Smalls said, adding, “This is a marathon, not a sprint.” “The employees I work with are like my family now,” Smalls said. “Bringing them this victory is the best feeling in the world, next to the birth of my children.” “I know what I sacrificed,” Smalls said. “I know what they sacrificed to get there.”
