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Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

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161–170 of 197 posts

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#161
The article claims "around 80 percent of families with children in the LAUSD live at or below the poverty threshold". Click the source to find the actual quote, "about 80% of Los Angeles Unified students come from families living in poverty". These statements are clearly not interchangeable - a good reminder to take all statistics from pop journalism sites like this with a grain of salt.

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#163
post #13

So apparently “neutralize” is the big bad trigger word here despite this quote? > Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien told Recode in July that his union is intent on “ disrupting [Amazon’s] network until they get to a point where they surrender

I think it's more subtle than that. I personally interpreted the tone of the headline to be hinting at something much more nefarious than "Amazon plans to hire ex-inmates to fight off union influence", and it looks like I wasn't alone. It's a terrible headline that doesn't do a good job of summarizing the key point of the article. A more cynical person than myself might even throw around the term clickbait.

Headline was definitely clickbait, but practically every headline is nowadays. It was written specifically to throw shade at Amazon. Although in my reading Amazon came off a whole lot better than than the union, but I’m a pragmatist and always feel like the effects are always more important than intent. If Amazon is hiring ex-inmates, no matter the intent, that is a positive thing from perspective.

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#164
post #30

I read the article expecting to see terrible actions by Amazon fighting the union. Instead the article was about the Teamsters union convincing local governments to block Amazon from opening buildings, and Amazon "fighting back" by increasing their hiring of needy ex-cons and minorities from local colleges, ending their marijuana drug tests, and otherwise working to ingratiate themselves with their comminities. The T…

It's not about Amazon's terrible actions fighting the union. It's about Amazon's exploitative labor practices, the day-to-day oppression that warehouse workers have to deal with.

Also, let's not forget that Amazon has unlimited funds to cover up and distract from their misdoings while the Teamsters do not.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/feb/05/amazon-wo...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/amazon-used-...

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/04/27/amaz-a27.html

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#165
post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who contribute daily to making our society that way are all indeed culpable. However, the people who opportunistically turn a profit from society being that way are the worst of that collection of people.

Quoted post unavailable.

Source on jtode wanting to "take away these people's jobs"?

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#166
post #9

Anyone hiring ex-inmates in large numbers is doing society a great benefit, whether it’s altruism, PR, or both hardly matters to me. It’s not easy managing that cohort and few businesses are even willing to try. Many of those that are have worse work conditions. I’m 100% on board for tax cuts or subsidies for businesses who keep the formerly incarcerated employed.

Altruism and PR aren't the only options. If the explanation is "they'll be less likely to dare to ask for better treatment" then I think that's a problem.

[deleted]

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Teamsters don't come out looking like the good guys... This is often the case.

No need to downvote this. Long history of documented corruption.

Add UAW to that list.

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#168
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the memo proposed that Amazon should create and foster partnerships with local nonprofits and community organizations that company officials hoped would “provide political cover for local policymakers, neutralize organized labors’ attempts to grow their coalition of third-party validators and spokespeople, and provide a platform for Amazon spokespeople and allies to speak of the true economic and social impact of Am…

It’s also so incredibly cynical. They aren’t supporting these organizations because it’s the right thing to do. It’s just a means to an end, namely preventing workers from organizing. I wonder how many people who called out Amazon’s supposedly enlightened actions as unlikely to be altruistic or genuine were accused of being conspiracy theorists.

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, well, such is the case with the Dave Thomas Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, Product RED… Any good they do is all with the bottom line in mind. Meanwhile, the felon who gets a $15+/hour gig in an Amazon warehouse during the hardest time in their life, when no other employer in town will give them the time of day and the urges to fall back into those bad habits are creeping in, is probably not going to care muc…

We’re talking about plan to subvert unions. It is one thing to do something that is both good for me and also good for others. It is quite another to do something ostensibly good, but with the ulterior intention of preventing the good of another.

Giving a job to an ex-con is both good for the ex-con and good for others, as giving the ex-con something to live for greatly reduces the chance that they will return to antisocial behavior.

As a non-Teamster, I'm not really sure what good is done for me if a Teamster gets a job, or what harm is done to me if they don't.

Frankly, the more this idea is being discussed here, the more I'm hoping Amazon hires as many ex-cons as possible and if that means completely busting any union activity in their company in perpetuity, so be it.

Re: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to combat the Teamsters in California

#170
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a parallel Earth, Vox has published an article praising Amazon to the high heavens for hiring felons and troubled youth. Nobody wants to hire ex-convicts, yet when they have nothing to lose (like a decent job) they're at far greater risk for recidivism. It's a bummer for the union people, I suppose, but as someone greatly concerned with how our society shows no shame in blatant classism with regards to ex-cons, I…

If we say that four percent has to be unemployed, who would you choose to be unemployed in the rat race that is life? Just to turn the discussion into something productive.

Those who have enough wealth that they don't need employment to live comfortably. Not sure what this has to do with my post unless you were trying to argue that it's fine for ex-cons to be perpetually among the unemployed; in that case, the idea of our "corrections systems" helping people who do anti-social behavior become productive members of society again is even more of a sham that it already is, so why don't we just go ahead and give all felons the chair?

Is the discussion not productive already?

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