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Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

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Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#981

Post by koheripbal »

macintux wrote: post #833
khc wrote: post #816

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it different from manufacturing work or work in service industry?

Amazon is infamous for absolutely driving their warehouse employees into the ground. I suspect manufacturing is somewhat less casual about their employees’ health because much of it is unionized, and training is more difficult. Warehouse workers are considered disposable. And the service industry is light years easier than warehouse work, at least based on my time in both.

Standing while at work is not bad for you. Who told you that?

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#982

Post by regextegrity »

spectramax wrote: post #874
regextegrity wrote: post #661

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I don't mean scheduled bathroom breaks, I mean they aren't given enough leeway during the day to even use the bathroom. There are many reports of them peeing in bottles and shitting in plastic bags.

These are stories few and between. Literally hundreds of thousands of employees wouldn't remain quiet for not allowing bathroom breaks. You're pursuaded by anecdotal evidence of certain incident that may have happened. It is difficult to believe hundreds of thousands of workers around the world working in Amazon warehouses have not enmasse complained they can't go to bathroom. This is a media-driven narrative. Squeek…

The peeing in bottles is just one of many symptoms of their terrible working conditions https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/05/amazon-wo...

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#983

Post by akudha »

TuringNYC wrote: post #904
akudha wrote: post #880

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Didn't Walmart do this in a lot of small towns? And sometimes just pack up and leave? What happens when they leave?

>> Didn't Walmart do this in a lot of small towns? And sometimes just pack up and leave? What happens when they leave? I think a good question to ask before is what happens if they dont come in the first place? If I were a resident in a town wanting jobs, i'd probably be more excited about jobs arriving than the possibility they might eventually disappear.

I dunno, there doesn't seem like a simple answer to this. If the choice is between starving or working for a heartless/soulless corporation doing the bare minimum, the system has failed miserably

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#984

Post by wiseleo »

chmod600 wrote: post #685
tw04 wrote: post #447

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of jobs in western Europe that will pay similar and won't force you to pee in a bottle or your pants. That's ignoring the whole healthcare situation... which I think you're leaving out of the equation. 30 seconds of searching indicates the average grocery store clerk in the UK makes 8.80GPB/hr. Add on healthcare and they're coming out far ahead of an amazon warehouse worker. https://www.payscale.com/…

I don't think it's terribly difficult to emigrate from the US to the EU. Aside from plane fare, what's holding someone in the US? And if it's just plane fare, there are probably a lot of places you can make it with a bus ticket that have better prospects without needing to go to Europe.

Leave US and owe US taxes on foreign income unless the citizenship is renounced. There are costs to renounce US citizenship as well. Therefore, it is not that simple.

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#985

Post by yourmom2 »

randomsearch wrote: post #696
killjoywashere wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Amazon not provide health care to their workers? https://www.amazondelivers.jobs/about/benefits/

“Are there no workhouses?” Such a difference between talking about working at a warehouse from the outside vs being born into a life that traps you there. I think HN struggles with topics like unionisation because most of us have just never been at the bottom of society without a way out. We’re relatively rich and so highly skilled - we lucked out to be nerds in a world of tech, perhaps due to timing or perhaps becau…

lol why the downvotes tho..

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#986

Post by mjevans »

LeifCarrotson wrote: post #805
mjevans wrote: post #749

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No way out either. In a literal sense. There's no national program for helping people relocate to areas where they can have a meaningful job, a home that's affordable to OWN, and hopefully also community as a result. I'm NOT saying it should be forced, I'm saying it should be an option.

There have been plenty of attempts to do so...but if you thought cache invalidation was a hard problem, welcome to sociology. One of the most infamous is/was New York City's SOTA program [1], which attempted to relocate and provide one year's rent for people from NYC's shelters. They basically shipped families and individuals out of state to other cities, hoping they'd find a job and affordable housing there. NYC is…

New York is very far from the place I envisioned such a program operating. I was thinking about helping nature or farms reclaim remote and sparsely populated areas that no longer work in an era of specialization.

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#987

Post by sergefaguet »

yocheckitdawg wrote: post #908
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #670

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's complicated. When you're the only game in town you enter an ethical gray area where the community is your hostage. Things seem alright now but what happens when the mines run dry?

What a ridiculous way of looking at it. Companies are damned if they do, damned if they don't in the eyes of some, just by the very fact that they are a private entity motivated to make a profit. Nevermind the fact that from my eyes looking at America from overseas, it seems like companies are the only institutions/organisations that are functioning even remotely in a socially optimal way. Your government is a disast…

Excellent comment

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#988

Post by gremlinsinc »

refurb wrote: post #875
lotsofpulp wrote: post #755

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one is living like kings on $15 per hour anywhere in the US. Unless your definition of kings includes lack of retirement security, income security, health security, and working back breaking shift work at odd hours. They will especially be vulnerable in their 50 to 65 years, when they will become unemployable for manual labor work. They'll be able to put a roof over their head, and not worry about their kids' next…

Two parents working at Amazon almost hit median household income in the US. Houses in that part of AL cost You’re painting way too bleak of a picture based on zero data.

My best friend growing up in the 80's - his dad made around $20/hour, working at a GM factory in the union. Mom was a stay-at-home mom. House was paid for, everything they bought they paid cash, pension, the works.

This was basically the norm from 40s to late 80s after reganomics started widdling away workers' rights.

This is the way it should be - 1 parent at home, 1 bringing home $$.

Else, the government should cover child care, or pay stay-at-home parents a salary for providing their own child care.

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#989

Post by yeetman21 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #755
yeetman21 wrote: post #733

Earlier quoted context omitted.

who the fuck is begging for scraps. with 15$ an hour they are living like kings in their hometown, above the median income

No one is living like kings on $15 per hour anywhere in the US. Unless your definition of kings includes lack of retirement security, income security, health security, and working back breaking shift work at odd hours. They will especially be vulnerable in their 50 to 65 years, when they will become unemployable for manual labor work. They'll be able to put a roof over their head, and not worry about their kids' next…

Not everywhere in the US is SF or NYC. 15$ an hour is a very good wage (especially for non skilled work) in a majority of the US

Re: Amazon workers vote against unionizing in Alabama

#990

Post by kcplate »

jeegsy wrote: post #957
psychometry wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need better education so that people stop voting against their own self-interest, in union elections and generally.

I'm wondering what sort of education exactly would prepare someone to decide if they should vote for a union or not. I'm assuming the would-be union would have made its case beforehand and Amazon hasnt been idle with their PR. So again, what education helps in making the decision?

Generally unionization of an organization fails when the union does not make a sound benefit case for their presence or the company already provides wages and benefits that meet or exceed the local market.

Contrary to what folks seem to think, unionization is not always a “no brainer”. Been through two orgs that went through the process, considered joining one because they presented a good case, rejected one because there was no value to the $50 the wanted to pull from my paycheck.

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