111–120 of 237 posts
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Depends on the spin. Couldn't you argue this is exploitation of the health of desperate low-paid workers, their family and their communities?
As everyone notices their packages stop arriving, comparatively few will buy into the idea that people making $17/hr are being 'exploited', especially as many people find their own working hours being reduced or eliminated.
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It's probably time to nationalize the airline industry entirely. Why do they enrich themselves during good times, and then we bail them out during bad times? If it's essential to economic stability and national security, and it keeps costing taxpayers a ton of money, then why even continue this facade of "private" airlines? The same excuse was used for banks during the recession. We need banks when the economy recove…
> It's probably time to nationalize the airline industry entirely. Great call. Every time I watch a presidential press conference, my first thought is "Wow, when this all blows over, I hope these people are running the airlines."
Maybe it's not such a bad thing to ask the question of who do we want running these huge ventures, which seem so entangled to the health of the economy and citizens. That applies to the government and private sector.
Glad to see this from Amazon, although I see it heading off the inevitable. Wouldn't this be the most powerful moment for employees in 'essential' services to engage in worker strikes? Is there any legal precedent for what governments would do? With all this war rhetoric thrown around, it seems a reasonable jump to declare essential workers troops on the frontline deserving of what we give other troops (free health c…
> Is there any legal precedent for what governments would do? There is a long history of the government using the military to break strikes and fill the labor gap for things deemed necessary for national security. I'm not sure Amazon warehouses are in the same class as coal mines though...
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What would the Government do? Force people to go back to work at gunpoint? I'd love to see them try.
With the coal strikes they threatened to draft every coal miner and nationalize the mines. That would likely be the same methodology used now. But I think we're a bunch of disassociated internet people talking about how a bunch of people who just got double time should be unhappy.
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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.
Also if you are protecting others from your ilness, a sinpler home made mask is enough to greetly limit possible spread.
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> Is there any legal precedent for what governments would do? There is a long history of the government using the military to break strikes and fill the labor gap for things deemed necessary for national security. I'm not sure Amazon warehouses are in the same class as coal mines though...
not quite, but delivery services are extremely important to the vulnerable population right now. many of these people are old and, as we all know, these are the people that vote most consistently. no sitting politician wants to be the one who sat on their hands while a strike prevented the elderly from receiving their hand sanitizer order.
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People need to stay home, but they also need to go to the grocery store, bank, or other essential activities. When they do, they should be wearing a mask.
I think we know that's just not going to happen in general. It's been impossible to buy masks for weeks.
Glad to see this from Amazon, although I see it heading off the inevitable. Wouldn't this be the most powerful moment for employees in 'essential' services to engage in worker strikes? Is there any legal precedent for what governments would do? With all this war rhetoric thrown around, it seems a reasonable jump to declare essential workers troops on the frontline deserving of what we give other troops (free health c…
The administration would certainly order employees back to work under the Taft–Hartley Act under threat of imprisonment. While it resists ordering companies to produce critically need medical supplies on ideological grounds[1], there can be no doubt that it would not miss an opportunity to damage labor organizations. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/us/politics/trump-coronav...
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Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's probably time to nationalize the airline industry entirely. Why do they enrich themselves during good times, and then we bail them out during bad times? If it's essential to economic stability and national security, and it keeps costing taxpayers a ton of money, then why even continue this facade of "private" airlines? The same excuse was used for banks during the recession. We need banks when the economy recove…
> Why do they enrich themselves during good times Did they? Airline stock prices have collapsed, so unless insiders sold everything in January, "enrich themselves" really means standard executive pay...which might be high, but that's another issue. Airlines, as businesses, didn't behave especially irresponsibly for the past decade. It's nothing like the banking excesses in 2007 that causes 2008. Air travel in the US…
It's not. It shouldn't be "another issue" every single time we discuss a company having financial trouble, just because it's widespread.
> By your logic, you very quickly get to a Chinese level of state ownership of businesses. Practically every large cap company would be on that list.
Not really. Any company that's not a natural monopoly can go ahead and go bankrupt. Utilities and transit would be on the list. Banks could be on or off the list depending on how you handle them. Not much else would be on the list.
I've been thinking that in this new reality Amazon warehouse workers and delivery folks are doing something pretty amazing by helping the rest of us. IMOH Jeff Bezos should really consider this and put something amazing together for these foundational people. (I say amazing because I think they should be rewarded in a big way - Amazon stock maybe?)
They used to be paid in stock... they wanted $15/hr instead.