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Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

nytimes.com

121–130 of 416 posts

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#121

If I'm to be honest, I'm a little surprised at the responses I'm seeing posted. This site is probably >80% men, many of whom are college educated and far more wealthy than most Americans, but are still somewhat anti-Amazon?

I feel like this is a weird statement. Unless I'm personally involved in the abuses of Amazon, I can't feel bad for the victims?

I've never been murdered but I feel bad for murder victims as well.

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#122
post #2

"The agency told Ms. Cunningham and Ms. Costa that it would accuse Amazon of unfair labor practices if the company did not settle the case, according to correspondence that Ms. Cunningham shared with The New York Times." That's a pretty nice piece of leverage to have in hand while negotiating a settlement. Edit: They were both UX/Design folks with Amazon, fired on April 10th, 2020. Costa was Amazon's first ever Princ…

Would the labor board have provided such a convenient ruling if it were right leaning political activists masquerading as employees fighting for employee rights? For that matter why are the actions of political activists protected at all? From past discussions on HN, my recollection is that these two were not fighting for labor rights or wages or conditions. They were climate change activists that would spam employee…

The labor board may well have done nothing if Amazon had fired them for activism. But they fired them once they did start bringing up labor issues:

> Amazon has fired two employees and asked a third not to return to work, after the group organized a virtual event for warehouse employees to speak to tech workers at the company about its workplace conditions and coronavirus response.

> The two employees who were fired on Friday, Maren Costa and Emily Cunningham, had in late March circulated a petition on internal email lists that called on Amazon to expand sick leave, hazard pay and child care for warehouse workers. The petition also asked Amazon to temporarily shut down facilities where workers were confirmed to have the virus so the facilities could be sterilized.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/business/stock-market-cov...

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#123
Is there as much of an effort to unionize in other countries where tech salaries are markedly lower? I only seem to hear about efforts to organize in the US, but Europe's tech salaries are far lower across the board. You'd think that efforts to organize there would be more fruitful.

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#124
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here, but I wonder if Target warehouse employees have been pissing in bottles all along and the news just never picked up on it.

Of course they do. And lots of other awful shit you'll see in this thread - https://twitter.com/BanishedBernie/status/137645587453380198...

There really isn't a company at that scale that doesn't have problems. I rank Target over Amazon simply because I know the products are going to be legit. Most of the time I'm doing curbside pickup there anyways.

And don't forget, Apple was also doing shady stuff: https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/3/21419729/apple-california-...

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#125
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been using Target Staples, and Bestbuy more and while they don’t always have the same items, brand names end up being roughly the same price due to auto price matching and contractual minimum prices. Only times I’m using amazon is for cheap items no one else will ship. They’ve really just turned into AliExpress.

I felt like I had to remember how to shop other places online as I’ve been making my switch to less Amazon. I’m so tired of finding little business cards in all my orders to review the products. I gave a bad review on a vacuum cleaner, and the seller has been contacting me every few weeks to refund me if I take it down. I sympathize with sellers because I know it’s hard to sell anything less than a five star product…

I don't feel bad, those sellers did it to themselves. They gamed the system too hard and that's where they landed.

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#126

Is there as much of an effort to unionize in other countries where tech salaries are markedly lower? I only seem to hear about efforts to organize in the US, but Europe's tech salaries are far lower across the board. You'd think that efforts to organize there would be more fruitful.

Many European tech markets are supported by robust social welfare systems and a culture of unionization within other industries that creates a sort of economic herd resistance to employer abuse.

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#127
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could make it hard to recruit new Sr people and leaders in their fields. I would never consider working at Amazon.

Maybe some will balk, but not all. There is probably enough overlap between "talented devs and designers" and "people who think unions are bad and/or don't care" that it won't affect their hiring pipeline. That said, I think highly-paid tech contributors do have the most leverage out of any other labor market participant right now. The more of us that don't want to work for anti-union companies, the better.

The more leverage you have as an individual, the less relevant a union is for you.

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nah. a wrongful termination lawsuit is expensive (think 7 figures). what i think amazon is going to do is put the workers that try this stunt into positions that are so crappy or the demands are so unrealistic that they’re gonna quit.

Wouldn't that be considered constructive dismissal, and still subject to this sort of action?

Yes, but awfully hard to prove.

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe some will balk, but not all. There is probably enough overlap between "talented devs and designers" and "people who think unions are bad and/or don't care" that it won't affect their hiring pipeline. That said, I think highly-paid tech contributors do have the most leverage out of any other labor market participant right now. The more of us that don't want to work for anti-union companies, the better.

The more leverage you have as an individual, the less relevant a union is for you.

If you do have leverage, and you don't use said leverage to help those that don't; then you are a bastard. And having policies ensures that your company, at high levels is ONLY staffed with bastards because people who are not bastards won't want to work there.

Granted, that might be exactly what Amazon et al are selecting for; but at some point, a company being anti-union will be a signal to prospective high-level employees that many of your potential co-workers will be entirely self-interested assholes and you will have to decide if such a work environment is for you.

Re: Amazon illegally fired activist workers, Labor Board finds

#130

Is there as much of an effort to unionize in other countries where tech salaries are markedly lower? I only seem to hear about efforts to organize in the US, but Europe's tech salaries are far lower across the board. You'd think that efforts to organize there would be more fruitful.

Google at least has some form of worker council in Europe because of organizing + local law.
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