Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#11

Post by pmorici » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:10 PM UTC

rorykoehler wrote: post #2

Amazon workers should unionize immediately now that the virus has given them leverage.

People are getting laid off from every other job left and right I would be surprised if they have the leverage you think they do. The increase in pay for people working through this is to compensate for the perceived risk of getting sick which is different than a shortage of workers. When you have record numbers of people applying for unemployment you can certainly replace striking workers quickly and with the current situation there would be zero sympathy from the public over a union causing that kind of mess.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#12

Post by eloff » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:14 PM UTC

tcbawo wrote: post #10

If Amazon wanted to win immediate trust and lasting goodwill, they should secure suppliers for "Amazon's choice" cotton surgical masks, providing priority service to hospital systems in regions of need, but also (publicly), their own warehouse and delivery workforce. They have the leverage, analytics, and supply chain to make it happen. Edit: We need to provide enough masks so that people don't feel like they are dep…

I'm pretty sure cotton masks offer little to no protection. What you need is a n95 respirator.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#13

Post by ken » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

motbob wrote: post #8

rorykoehler wrote: post #2

Amazon workers should unionize immediately now that the virus has given them leverage.

The virus, in some ways, has given them the opposite of leverage. The labor market is and will be flooded with laid off workers.

Then again, lots of laid off workers (like me) come from other unions. What better way to unionize a workplace than by flooding it with union workers from other industries?

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#14

Post by christkv » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

eloff wrote: post #12

tcbawo wrote: post #10

If Amazon wanted to win immediate trust and lasting goodwill, they should secure suppliers for "Amazon's choice" cotton surgical masks, providing priority service to hospital systems in regions of need, but also (publicly), their own warehouse and delivery workforce. They have the leverage, analytics, and supply chain to make it happen. Edit: We need to provide enough masks so that people don't feel like they are dep…

I'm pretty sure cotton masks offer little to no protection. What you need is a n95 respirator.

It will help if everyone wears it. The asymptotic infected will reduce their spread as it will stop them spreading it.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#15

Post by claudeganon » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

motbob wrote: post #8

rorykoehler wrote: post #2

Amazon workers should unionize immediately now that the virus has given them leverage.

The virus, in some ways, has given them the opposite of leverage. The labor market is and will be flooded with laid off workers.

That’s why it’s actually important to unionize in the very near term. Amazon can’t replace all of their workers if they unionize right away and the union leverage can guarantee safer working conditions for all the new hires.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#16

Post by mulm » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:18 PM UTC

One of the Danish consumer NGOs called tænk recently tested the security of things bought off amazon, wish and other online retailers. More than half of the smoke alarms bought on amazon didn’t work. Around half of the baby toys didn’t meet choking hazard safety.

Not sure why anyone still buys things from there. Or anywhere online really, all the other retailers failed as well.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#17

Post by Klinky » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC

krapp wrote: post #9

rorykoehler wrote: post #2

Amazon workers should unionize immediately now that the virus has given them leverage.

The virus has given them no such thing. These are only temporary measures meant to stem attrition because Amazon set a policy of unlimited UPT until the end of the month for anyone sick... as soon as that's no longer necessary, there will be mass layoffs and pay cuts across the board.

Regardless, Amazon needs to play this very carefully. If they do not take appropriate actions to protect their workforce and the virus proliferates throughout their supply chain and logistics network, they will be completely shutdown.

Paying workers double pay does not make COVID-19 cases go down, if anything, you're encouraging it to go up by having more employees working together for longer hours, and as those cases go up, the higher the chances of a legal mandate to shutdown becomes.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#18

Post by eloff » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC

christkv wrote: post #14

eloff wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure cotton masks offer little to no protection. What you need is a n95 respirator.

It will help if everyone wears it. The asymptotic infected will reduce their spread as it will stop them spreading it.

That's a bit of a pipe dream. It's better for people to just stay at home as much as possible. Everyone can do that regardless of the availability of masks.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#19

Post by EarthIsHome » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:20 PM UTC

mulm wrote: post #16

One of the Danish consumer NGOs called tænk recently tested the security of things bought off amazon, wish and other online retailers. More than half of the smoke alarms bought on amazon didn’t work. Around half of the baby toys didn’t meet choking hazard safety. Not sure why anyone still buys things from there. Or anywhere online really, all the other retailers failed as well.

> Not sure why anyone still buys things from there. Or anywhere online really, all the other retailers failed as well.

A combination of convenience and a monopoly. They have made purchasing as frictionless as possible.

Re: Amazon raises overtime pay for warehouse workers

#20

Post by guacamole4 » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 5:24 PM UTC

golergka wrote: post #6

xixixao wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has it? There’s probably a ton of people looking for this kind of job on the market.

How fast would they be able to hire and train replacements, and how much would it cost?

You don't need much training for Amazon warehouse job. You start moving boxes from day one.