Workers at Amazon's main Italian hub, German warehouses strike on Black Friday

Post by yardie » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 3:02 PM UTC

eriken wrote: post #55

dsacco wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> where unions realize that competitiveness trumps wages. It seems like you’re sneaking an assertion in there. Can you clarify your point a bit? What is the relationship between competition and wages, and why is one better than the other for unions?

Well if a company cannot compete because wages are too high then the company goes under and jobs are gone. Germany is a good example of this, they have a ton of unions and lots of production but the unions understand that competition is key to survival so there are very few strikes.

Post by simias » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 3:08 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #81

simias wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This year it's a thing in France too apparently, or at least some vendors are pushing it. See for instance amazon.fr's frontpage or even the local fnac.com. When I saw "black friday" on their landing page I thought I had gone on the american version by accident. It's odd because Thanksgiving is only something you see in American sitcoms over here. American cultural imperialism is really impressive. I can understand w…

Amazon is indeed actively pushing "Black Friday", and Fnac is playing catchup. But I don't know if anyone in France is aware that "Black Friday" means "discount"...? Also, discount days are regulated in France (called "les soldes"); normally you can't have a discount day any time you want, you have to apply for authorization. I sell on Amazon in Europe for the first time this year (started in January); I don't do dis…

Post by tdeck » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 3:12 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #81

simias wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This year it's a thing in France too apparently, or at least some vendors are pushing it. See for instance amazon.fr's frontpage or even the local fnac.com. When I saw "black friday" on their landing page I thought I had gone on the american version by accident. It's odd because Thanksgiving is only something you see in American sitcoms over here. American cultural imperialism is really impressive. I can understand w…

Amazon is indeed actively pushing "Black Friday", and Fnac is playing catchup. But I don't know if anyone in France is aware that "Black Friday" means "discount"...? Also, discount days are regulated in France (called "les soldes"); normally you can't have a discount day any time you want, you have to apply for authorization. I sell on Amazon in Europe for the first time this year (started in January); I don't do dis…

Post by Joeboy » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 3:20 PM UTC

Ntrails wrote: post #77

djsumdog wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Strikers in US media are often belittled. Think back to the Occupy Movement. The banks were bailed out, none of those people who caused so much misery were ever put in jail, and the media belittled Occupy as being directionless and pointless. The protest was huge, stretching across cities and countries, but there was never any accountability for the banksters. It shows again as the Equifax execs were cleared of insid…

That's not entirely true. The strike was over the fact that if not enough drivers _volunteered_ to do the night shifts, TFL could assign non volunteers. They would still be compensated for the work hours being particularly antisocial. It is also true that Tube drivers are well paid and yes that does impact the levels of sympathy available to them. The change was absolutely funded - just not as well as the union would…

Post by ksec » Thu, Nov 23, 2017, 3:22 PM UTC

brndnmtthws wrote: post #23

Happy to hear workers are standing up for themselves. The anti-union FUD campaign in the US has contributed significantly to the erosion of middle class wages over the past 50 years (check out Thomas Piketty's work if you're curious about this).