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How Amazon Crushes Unions

nytimes.com

21–30 of 261 posts

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#21

Good. Unions ultimately get entangled with regulators and its harmful for everyone. Look no further than public school teachers, getting paid, refuse to work. Meanwhile private school teachers have been working.. if you hate working at Amazon, quit.

Minimally, public sector unions should be discussed separately from private sector unions. FDR warned against the former:

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/letter-the-resolut...

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#22

Good. Unions ultimately get entangled with regulators and its harmful for everyone. Look no further than public school teachers, getting paid, refuse to work. Meanwhile private school teachers have been working.. if you hate working at Amazon, quit.

unions are corrupt, wasteful, and the only organization that is structurally aligned with workers despite all those drawbacks. Your boss is not your friend, and you are only one person. you lose.

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#23
post #19
post #5

Not to excuse Amazon or anything, but absolutely every company in America does this. Most of them don't bother with subterfuge though and just go with threats or firings. And one of our main political parties is vehemently anti-union and keeps winning elections.

I know a few small business owners that have said if their staff unionized they would just close the business. These aren't bad bosses or people who don't know how to run a business. They just know if their staff unionized and the rest of their industry didn't, they wouldn't be able to compete on price or keep the necessary number of staff. I think it's easier to pick on Amazon or bezos than it is to deal with the po…

It's in the union's interest to keep the company alive too.

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#24
post #6

I hate Amazon and stories like this make me hate it even more. I stopped ordering anything from them and, if anything, this has actually improved my consumer experience. Most stuff you can buy on Amazon these days is the same garbage that is sold on Wish but you pay ~25-50% more for it to come within a couple of days. Not shopping at either has definitely raised the average life span and quality of goods in my househ…

Can you elaborate where do you buy things online from? I want to move away from Amazon, but it's also exhausting to sort through multiple websites for a product, their shipping fees, and make decisions.

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#25

For reference, Amazon's anti-union site: https://www.doitwithoutdues.com/

I have to say, I'm kind of creeped out by union dues. It just feels less about workers helping themselves and more like some workers creating a new power structure and job roles that they can enjoy.

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#26
post #11

I don't get it, why do workers need to vote in order to start/join a union? Why would the company care if they do join a union? Can't they simply refuse to negotiate with the union?

"Your Right to Form a Union "Not represented by a union, but want to be? If a majority of workers wants to form a union, they can select a union in one of two ways: If at least 30% of workers sign cards or a petition saying they want a union, the NLRB will conduct an election. If a majority of those who vote choose the union, the NLRB will certify the union as your representative for collective bargaining. An electio…

> Once a union has been certified or recognized, the employer is required to bargain over your terms and conditions of employment with your union representative.

Oh. So once again bad laws cause the whole problem...

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#27
post #17

Good. Unions ultimately get entangled with regulators and its harmful for everyone. Look no further than public school teachers, getting paid, refuse to work. Meanwhile private school teachers have been working.. if you hate working at Amazon, quit.

Your experience with unions seems very limited, please read about unions in countries where the system isn't broken.

Unfortunately we're discussing unions forming in a country where there are a lot of issues with dysfunctional unions, and some less than stellar, high-profile history. It will be impossible to dismiss that when having the discussion when the context is within the United States.

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#28
post #17

Good. Unions ultimately get entangled with regulators and its harmful for everyone. Look no further than public school teachers, getting paid, refuse to work. Meanwhile private school teachers have been working.. if you hate working at Amazon, quit.

Your experience with unions seems very limited, please read about unions in countries where the system isn't broken.

The challenge I have with looking at unions in countries that 'do it right', so to speak, is that the union Amazon employees are looking to make will end up being an American-style union.

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#29
What I don't see mentioned in the article are right-to-work states. While still effective to a degree, unions tend to have much less bite in these states. I'm left to wonder if Amazon would have the heft/ability to simply relocate all manual labor to states with right-to-work as law, or if that kind of move would be outside of union-busting laws.

Re: How Amazon Crushes Unions

#30

For reference, Amazon's anti-union site: https://www.doitwithoutdues.com/

I have to say, I'm kind of creeped out by union dues. It just feels less about workers helping themselves and more like some workers creating a new power structure and job roles that they can enjoy.

And your suggested way to operate an organisation without money is...?
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