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Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

businessinsider.com

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Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#51

Post by vertex-four »

zpeti wrote: post #44
harimau777 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A potential solution would be to pass regulations that protect workers. Examples could include minimum wages, profit sharing plans, or mandatory benefits. That wouldn't necessarily affect consumer behavior but it would affect what strategies corporations are able to use to service that behavior.

Ok, but then amazons prices will be higher. Taken to the extreme amazon might not exist because it can’t deliver the low prices it has so far. Is that what you want? If you do, that’s fine, that’s a fair enough perspective, but understand that you are probably making it harder for people with less money. Same goes for Walmart.

There will always be a company that delivers products according to the minimum regulations required by law - that's how capitalism and competition are meant to work (given a near-unlimited labour supply).

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#53

Post by zpeti »

mmsimanga wrote: post #49
WilliamEdward wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is ridiculous that you've boiled it down to those two options. The 3rd is cutting executive salary and paying low wage workers. Also amazon is not cheap compared to my local competitor and aliexpress, people buy from amazon because of convenience. And amazon makes profit on non-AWS products as well, don't be silly. I can literally google their financial statements to prove this.

I am often amazed at how executive pay is overlooked in these debates. I have no qualms with founders making a pretty penny from taking the risk of starting the company. Most executives appointed once company has gained momentum don't deserve the huge pay they get. Don't get me wrong they deserve to be well paid but not as much as we are paying them. I have been in companies where people said to be "absolutely" criti…

I am often amazed at how good HN readers are at valuing labour of both workers and executives.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#54

Post by sand_castles »

econcon wrote: post #26
zpeti wrote: post #7

I’m genuinely interested in what people who think of amazon as an evil company think it should do. It hardly ever makes a profit. Any profit it makes is from AWS usually. It is popular because it’s so cheap, which is why people buy there. So really the solutions can only be: 1. Raise prices and consumers suffer 2. Keep wages low and workers suffer 3. Stop existing. I wonder how many people who complain about amazons…

Amazon atleast in India is not the cheapest option. I usually buy stuff from Chinese e-commerce websites where you can find things much cheaper.

aliexpress ? takes a lot longer for delivery though.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#55

Post by econcon »

duaoebg wrote: post #43
econcon wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany also imported farm labor from Romania and cramped them in airplanes without any social distancing. Meanwhile I hear lots of Germans don't really work and still get to live high quality life. I am here suggesting that Germany only cares about its own citizens as they help Germany enable control over capital and means of production, including technology financing, adminstration at the same time it doesn't care…

Given how Germany usually treats their European neighbors this is still an improvement.

Replying to the-dude

>For EU citizens, the EU is a labor transfer union by design. These 'imported laborers' were not forced, they took their chances

No it's not that simple, other EU countries had to open their market to technologically superior Western European nations who had better quality highly skilled labor and capital.

If it was simple, labor movement - I wouldn't even be bringing this up.

>Are you seriously suggesting it is a problem foreigners are not making up the board of directors of German companies

Yes it based on the fact number of immigrants Germany has.

>As a direct neighbor of DE ( I am in NL ), DE seems to have been very generous accepting refugees. A bit too generous for some.

It's just a knee jerk reaction to their aging population.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#56

Post by bryanrasmussen »

hutzlibu wrote: post #23
deadgunslinger wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you believe permanently raising wages to offset black swan events such as the COVID-19 epidemic is a wise move? What about the next black swan event? Are they going to be paid enough then or they'll need a pay rise again? Healthcare professionals are paid much more compared to the average UK citizen. Especially doctors, the average pay (100k pounds) is in the 2% of the earners. Emigrant doctors couldn't even dream…

I asume when we are talking about "underpaid health care workers" we are not talking about doctors, but nurses. But both deserve bonus crisis.

Not necessarily nurses

underpaid:

orderlies cleaning services kitchen staff

not sure if underpaid:

Midwife Physiotherapist

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#57

Post by zpeti »

vertex-four wrote: post #51
zpeti wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, but then amazons prices will be higher. Taken to the extreme amazon might not exist because it can’t deliver the low prices it has so far. Is that what you want? If you do, that’s fine, that’s a fair enough perspective, but understand that you are probably making it harder for people with less money. Same goes for Walmart.

There will always be a company that delivers products according to the minimum regulations required by law - that's how capitalism and competition are meant to work (given a near-unlimited labour supply).

Correct. But in this Imaginary scenario it will Certainly be more expensive than current amazon. Is that more acceptable, to say the poorest in society, than bad worker conditions?

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#58

Post by econcon »

sand_castles wrote: post #54
econcon wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon atleast in India is not the cheapest option. I usually buy stuff from Chinese e-commerce websites where you can find things much cheaper.

aliexpress ? takes a lot longer for delivery though.

Yes, I look for one that ships with Gati.cn it usually takes 7 days to arrive here.

Amazon India usually has same product listed for 2-3x the price.

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#59

Post by easytiger »

pwdisswordfish2 wrote: post #5

I’ve said it before and I won’t tire of saying it: »Gut, das ist der Pfennig! Und wo ist die Mark?« https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ihb2XqEsa4g The same bullshit is happening everywhere. In the German Bundestag MPs gave standing ovations for care workers. Meanwhile those continue to slave away for pennies, now more precariously than ever, while the next items on the MPs agenda are bailouts for airlines and fucking car ma…

I'm sorry but this is emotive gibberish.

> slave

No.

> away for pennies

No.

> We can’t live without the care people

What are you suggesting? Literally destroy all of civilisation to do what? Hire infinite care workers?

> bailouts for airlines and fucking car manufacturers.

So you don't want anything of society to remain? You want all efforts of existence to be focused on care workers?

Re: Amazon is handing out 'Thank you' t-shirts to warehouse workers as it cuts pay

#60

Post by d3nj4l »

dajohnson89 wrote: post #52

Clickbaity title (and worse than the article headline). Amazon is not cutting pay. It is removing the hazard pay, which was extra on top of the normal wages.

Given the current scenario, isn't all pay hazard pay?

Edit: And it's mentioned in the article as well:

> The token comes as Amazon announced it would be cutting the $2 per hour wage hike it brought in for staff in mid-March as hazard pay for coming in during the pandemic.

The "Hazard Pay" was a pay rise for coming in during the pandemic, which as far as I can see hasn't ended yet. Cutting hazard pay right now, in real terms, is cutting pay.

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