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I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

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Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#181

Post by m0zg »

mattigames wrote: post #131
m0zg wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More importantly: in the situation where the majority of "free" press is controlled by 5-6 people, it's more profitable to exert this market power rather than to do government bidding for free. So US press is not quite Pravda, but it also has very little to do with reporting the facts, and that factual component has markedly diminished as the press entered a period of decline 10-15 years ago. Now it's just mostly dri…

There are a few columns that do not missrepresent the facts by some ethical journalists but due existing in the same websites and news outlets where columns that only exist to drive clicks is hard for the readers to tell them apart. As an aside is interesting you are being downvoted and flagged, it seems as censoring more than people just disagreeing

It's pretty much down to Glenn Greenwald now. I struggle to name another journalist whose work I would be inclined to take at face value, without immediately trying to figure out what agenda the author is trying to push, or searching for sources to confirm I'm being lied to.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#182

Post by vonholstein »

wool_gather wrote: post #161
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If job roles are arranged like a pyramid (wide base of lower paid jobs, with lower number of higher paid jobs above) - the largest benefit is always going to be automating away the high number of low paid jobs. Not quite. If you can automate a CEO you might cut a million dollars out of the budget -- maybe even ten or a hundred million in some companies. But if you can automate 500K people making $15/hour, that's ov…

> if you can automate 500K people making $15/hour They have 500K total employees, not 500K warehouse workers. That's closer to 90K. Divide your automated-away figure by 5.

Suggest a correction, more than 250K making atleast $15/hour - https://www.aboutamazon.com/amazon-fulfillment/our-fulfillme...

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#183

Post by im3w1l »

seraphsf wrote: post #22
conorh wrote: post #10

I had read a few of these negative articles about Amazon fulfillment centers and then a guy we know working the counter at our local pizza place got a job at one of them. That made me change my mind and doubt the reporting after talking with him. The pay was much better better, the benefits if he transitioned to full time were much better, and he was really excited about a program Amazon has to cover tuition after (I…

Reminds me of the classic Nicholas Kristof article, “Two Cheers for Sweatshops”. ( http://archive.is/W6ABE ) The gist of which is, a job can be ‘not good’ from the perspective of the privileged but still ‘much better than the alternatives’ from the perspective of the people who take that job. If the employer of a “sweatshop job” is not coercing or lying to its employees, then I have a hard time faulting the employer…

Consider that cartels are known to work, they allow more profit for participants. The reason they work is because the price of maximum profit is typically higher than the equilibrium price.

Outlawing sweatshops effectively creates a wage / work conditions cartel.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#184

Post by JetezLeLogin »

lonelappde wrote: post #123
JetezLeLogin wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"How does it accrue?" might be a better way of asking than "Can we start taking it right now?"

It's a warehouse job, not the PR department. Maybe pay a little better if you expect employees with refined diplomatic skills.

I have absolutely no skin in this game.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#185

Post by gdulli »

vore wrote: post #7

The author seems to very much worry that negative press is going to be the cause of him losing his job due to automation: >Just about every job in my sortation center could probably be done by a robot. In fact, it amazes me that Amazon hasn’t simply automated the entire facility. [...] If I had to guess, I’d say that Amazon continues to employ lots of human beings because, by putting money into the pockets of working…

> If I had to guess, I’d say that Amazon continues to employ lots of human beings because, by putting money into the pockets of working-class people, the company creates more customers

I've never accused a piece of content like this of being a shill, but it's taking some mental gymnastics to convince myself that a person could really believe this.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#186

Post by jschwartzi »

zdragnar wrote: post #166
chrsstrm wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does "improper" mean and who gets to decide what actions are improper? Paid days are paid days and just because they have a certain name doesn't change a thing. Has anyone ever been accused of faking a vacation? Of course not, because that would be ridiculous. But since sick days are called sick days all of a sudden you need to prove you're bedridden or else face consequences? That's absurd. Treat your employees…

Sick days and vacation days typically have different notification requirements- in most places that had them I've worked at, it was 2 weeks for vacation and asap for sick leave. Vacation time could be denied if, say, the job involved time sensitive equipment or safety related tasks (I.e. nursing) and others had already requested the time off. Abusing sick leave- depending on the job- has very real consequences for yo…

Why is it abuse if I use my PTO? The whole point of PTO is that the company is agreeing to give you 10 days worth of slack. So obviously it shouldn't be a problem if you use that 10 days of slack. Are you telling me that the company is lying about the benefits it provides, and that it doesn't actually provide 10 days of sick leave? What else are they lying about?

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#187

Post by track_me_now »

zarify wrote: post #147
WalterBright wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

I can believe someone taking 10 sick days off a year and no more. You take the paid time off if you're sick without much hesitation, and after that you weigh up whether you're sick enough to cost you a day's pay. People should use their sick leave - that's what it's for. This "no raise for using sick leave" argument is no better than the overwork culture that's been discussed at length lately. Mind you, I'm not an en…

Well, I'm an engineering manager and there's a little more to then someone just taking 10 sick days per year. I see when my direct reports are run down or if they're fighting something, versus if they're always "sick" on Monday morning. I known when they stay home because they don't want to get everyone else sick but they are still in contact; that's different from when they call in sick, I hear nothing all day and then they're fine the next day and back at work. I keep a tally of when someone who's never sick is really down for an entire week vs. those who consistently get "food poisoning". The whole reason I have a job is because we're a tight-knit team that works closely and there's no room to bullshit. It would be like faking out your parents when you're a kid; you could get away with it for a day or two but I'm going to be able to tell when you just want to stay home to play video games.

I don't think this makes me passive-aggressive or a shitty manager; we're a tight team that cares about each other and as a result we know when people are treating each other with respect and honesty. I give people a lot of leeway and ask them not to wreck it for everyone. If someone threatens this it makes me both mad and sad, because once it's gone we'll never get it back.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#188

Post by track_me_now »

rolltiide wrote: post #168
WalterBright wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

Paid sick days aren't just for when someone is contagious Taking all 10 and just those has no indication on anything

however taking exactly one sick day a month sure looks suspicious

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#189

Post by [deleted] »

MaxBarraclough wrote: post #140
chrsstrm wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We seem to believe that sick always means some type of physical illness that means we can't work, which is completely wrong. Taking a sick day for mental health is totally OK. Taking a sick day to deal with a sick child or spouse or s.o. is totally OK. Leaving sick days on the table at the end of the year is not something that should be valued, whether they are paid or not. I'm sure HR makes every attempt to spend th…

> If you get 10 days, take all 10 days. So you don't agree with vharuck who said If a person's sick, they're sick. If they're faking, they're faking ? Are you really suggesting faking sickness, or am I misreading you?

[deleted]

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#190

Post by jkaplowitz »

WalterBright wrote: post #139
jkaplowitz wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not defending that kind of employee misbehaviour, but how to handle that doesn't need to be factored into the sick leave policy beyond making the allowed usage clear and reserving the right to ask for proof when the company has reason to be suspicious. How to handle that, more broadly, is the same as how to handle any other pattern of employee misbehaviour: some appropriate level of employee discipline according…

Asking for a doctor's note is for children. These are professional adults. Often people who behave unethically at work believe they are getting away with it. But then they wonder why they don't get raises, are passed over for promotions, are let go in the first round of layoffs, and don't have the respect of their peers.

Well, I agree with the other responses that the manager is being passive aggressive by just handling it at raise time. But professional adults don't behave unethically at work. (A lot of adults in positions labelled as professional do, however. I'd call them unprofessionals rather than professionals.)

People need explicit negative feedback sometimes, and if bad faith is proven and not reversed quickly, the termination process should start. The doctor's notes are for the category of people that behave unethically regardless of age, and when the latter is suspected, the former can be temporarily appropriate given good reason for suspicion and after trying the direct approach of discussing the problem. I'm a manager and have never requested a doctor's note. I hope never to have to.

If I were this manager's manager, I'd have two people whose performance and attitude I'd need to correct, not one.

Anyway, my preferred rule is unlimited paid sick days, even when vacation days are limited. And yes, I've worked at places that use that rule. Just like you don't get to choose when you get sick, you don't get to choose how severely you get sick when you get sick.

As others have said, a long sickness should not all be at the expense of the employer. But plenty of places have mandatory disability insurance paid for by payroll deductions and employer contributions, including New York and Canada to name two examples I'm aware of.

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