Amazon workers on Staten Island vote to unionize

Post by hapless » Fri, Apr 01, 2022, 7:55 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #248

marricks wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cases like this you really need to be extremely specific about what powerful means. I think a lot of left leaning folks could agree with such statements but made too broadly it can be taken a number of different ways. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone pro union who'd say unions have too much influence or sway in the lives of US citizens. Most workers don't have union representation and unions don't have mu…

>Do most people in New York want their police force to have a budget larger than military of a mid sized country? Probably not? Pareto distribution strikes again! Apparently new york city has a GDP that ranks 15 in the world, above mexico[1][2] and ranks 59 in the world in terms of population[3], so the fact that new york exceeds "a mid sized country" (median?) in some statistic isn't surprising. If you want to make…

Post by booleandilemma » Fri, Apr 01, 2022, 7:56 PM UTC

jasode wrote: post #145

cs702 wrote: post #103

A single successful effort of unionization at an Amazon facility is more than symbolic: It will encourage -- and serve as a blueprint for -- employees at other Amazon facilities to do the same. Moreover, it will motivate employees at other large companies to try. This has been brewing for a while. It's possible we'll see a generational wave of unionization.

>unionization at an Amazon facility is more than symbolic: It will encourage -- and serve as a blueprint for -- employees at other Amazon facilities to do the same. It really depends on how things play out. E.g. what the extra union dues' payments will be in relation to the extra benefits received from union representation. Or maybe Amazon responds with a "business decision" to close JFK8 fulfillment center. So it ca…

Post by TameAntelope » Fri, Apr 01, 2022, 7:57 PM UTC

eigenvalue wrote: post #290

When this has happened at individual Walmart stores in the past, the company would immediately shut down the store and everyone would lose their jobs. A couple years later they would build a new store within 20 or so miles of the old store, free of the union. This was obviously financially painful for Walmart, but it served as such a strong signal to employees to not even try to unionize that it must have paid for it…

Post by hotpotamus » Fri, Apr 01, 2022, 7:59 PM UTC

robomartin wrote: post #282

I was in a union (not by choice) the first ten years or so of my professional life. To put it in simple terms: I despise them. Yes, of course, they had reason to exist in the dark ages. Today, I think they are in a range between counterproductive and dangerous. Before anyone make a move for the jugular: I make a distinction between union members and union management (the entity). Union members are hard working folks,…

Post by djrobstep » Fri, Apr 01, 2022, 8:02 PM UTC

educaysean wrote: post #46

seibelj wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Should also have the right to work at a company and NOT have to join the union, and negotiate your own conditions / wages independently.

Yup, this is just as important in my view. Tangentially related: one of the places my wife worked at had a union that "pretty much everyone joins" because they charge union fees from every worker regardless of whether they join the union or not. I don't understand how they could mandate something like that, and the idea didn't sit well with me. It's a classic case of taxation without representation!