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Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

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Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#391

Post by Frondo »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #156
wnevets wrote: post #78

Whenever unions are mentioned on HN there always seems to be a coordinated effort to attack them in the comments, very interesting.

I doubt it’s a conspiracy or organized comment ring. The popular narrative around unions is one of the employees versus their employer, but ultimately even the business’ customers or adjacent businesses end up paying some of the price. For an example that will probably hit home for many HN users, try asking your trade show team about dealing with unions. The restrictions imposed by unions on trade show attendees are…

What's amazing to me about that anecdote is that it seems like such a tremendously small reason to dislike unions, for all they do to improve worker safety, pay, and provide a stop against exploitation by corporate owners.

I would consider not being able to plug in my own gear at a trade show a small price to pay to show my support for unions and union workplaces.

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#392

Post by dreamcompiler »

reading-at-work wrote: post #17

Not surprised. Tech companies (Facebook and Google in this case, and probably others) have been known to retain Pinkerton agents to monitor employees. Yes, those Pinkertons. “Among other services, Pinkerton offers to send investigators to coffee shops or restaurants near a company’s campus to eavesdrop on employees’ conversations.” https://newrepublic.com/article/147619/pinkertons-still-neve...

"Who are those guys?"

"Pinkerton men"

-Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969

https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/pers...

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#393

Post by edoceo »

valas wrote: post #388
tehjoker wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone that likes the New Deal should thank the union organizers and socialists that literally had to fight police in the streets to force the hand of the state. A large enough faction of the capitalists back then agreed to reforms because they feared things were going the way of revolution. In the 1930s, the 1917 revolution in Russia was a recent memory that scared the piss out of them. Bezos would like to continu…

"read some Marx"... do you have some book in mind? Perhaps some good summary? I hear Capital is hard to parse. So far my experience in trying to distill Marx is that he did reasonable assessment of the state of affairs at the time (i.e. identifying main classes in society of 1800s), but then his prescriptions of what to do (socialize means of production) did not work out anywhere. Maybe I'm reading wrong books.

Capital is not a hard read. Marx prescriptions were not perfect but the problem description from back then is surprisingly accurate for todays workers

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#394

Post by crististm »

phs318u wrote: post #299
crististm wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they work alright, that is, until they turn into totalitarianism. Which they did, everywhere they were implemented.

History isn’t over. If you think capitalism isn’t tending the same way (with the example of China showing how successfully it can work), you haven’t been paying attention.

Hong Kong has been paying attention more than us both apparently!

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#395

Post by patrec »

valas wrote: post #388
tehjoker wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone that likes the New Deal should thank the union organizers and socialists that literally had to fight police in the streets to force the hand of the state. A large enough faction of the capitalists back then agreed to reforms because they feared things were going the way of revolution. In the 1930s, the 1917 revolution in Russia was a recent memory that scared the piss out of them. Bezos would like to continu…

"read some Marx"... do you have some book in mind? Perhaps some good summary? I hear Capital is hard to parse. So far my experience in trying to distill Marx is that he did reasonable assessment of the state of affairs at the time (i.e. identifying main classes in society of 1800s), but then his prescriptions of what to do (socialize means of production) did not work out anywhere. Maybe I'm reading wrong books.

Not, OP, and not well read in Marxist literature either (life is too short), but I can recommend The Communist Manifesto, it's short, quite lucid and of enormous historical influence (and would be worth reading for that reason alone). As you say, the interesting part is the analysis, the proposed remedies do not just look bad in hindsight, after tens of millions of dead bodies.

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#396

Post by tehjoker »

valas wrote: post #388
tehjoker wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone that likes the New Deal should thank the union organizers and socialists that literally had to fight police in the streets to force the hand of the state. A large enough faction of the capitalists back then agreed to reforms because they feared things were going the way of revolution. In the 1930s, the 1917 revolution in Russia was a recent memory that scared the piss out of them. Bezos would like to continu…

"read some Marx"... do you have some book in mind? Perhaps some good summary? I hear Capital is hard to parse. So far my experience in trying to distill Marx is that he did reasonable assessment of the state of affairs at the time (i.e. identifying main classes in society of 1800s), but then his prescriptions of what to do (socialize means of production) did not work out anywhere. Maybe I'm reading wrong books.

Like others have said, "The Communist Manifesto" is the easiest entry point. My copy also has "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" which some say is the work most descriptive of the US today. "The State and Revolution" by Lenin is a relatively easy and enlightening read as he talks about the nature of the capitalist state, the police, and other topics. "Reform or Revolution" by Rosa Luxemburg is also clarifying as it talks about why reformists have lost the thread. However, there are also many many many leftist podcasts you can listen to that can be easier to digest and will get you the basics, so that way when you read the original works later you have a baseline of understanding.

Capital is a doorstop, but I have heard that past chapter one which talks about the labor theory of value, the reading is much more breezy.

However, while some of these books are dense, even rural peasants have been able to read and metabolize these books, so don't despair!

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#397

Post by tehjoker »

missedthecue wrote: post #371
kiliantics wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you have a single example of an (accidental) killing by unions. Now look up how many people have been killed by corporations for striking.

in the last couple decades?

Are you willing to consider the scope of the entire world?

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#398

Post by heavyset_go »

hpen wrote: post #277

Do unions really provide a better work experience for the worker? Genuine question.

According to the BLS, white collar union members in the US have higher salaries, better benefits, more paid time off, and better retirement benefits. They also report having higher life satisfaction[1].

The same trend exists for blue collar union members, too.

[1] https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.baylor.edu/dist/2/1297/f...

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#399

Post by jackvalentine »

yibg wrote: post #300
wnevets wrote: post #78

Whenever unions are mentioned on HN there always seems to be a coordinated effort to attack them in the comments, very interesting.

Maybe a lot of people just have had negative interactions with unions.

Entirely possible, but also maybe people who have positive experiences with unions can't be bothered talking about them when the popular narrative of 'unions are bad' means they're inevitably going to have to defend them and explain every bad thing that has ever happened at or adjacent to a union.

I'm a union member, but man do I think twice about ever commenting on anything to do with a union because of the huge negative wave that comes your way.

Re: Amazon deletes job listings for analysts to track ‘labor organizing threats’

#400

Post by terr-dav »

lvs wrote: post #390
droptablemain wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The burden of health insurance shouldn't fall to the business anyway. It is the responsibility of the federal government.

This is an important argument that people miss. Cost increases in health care for government systems are managed at the government level, not at the level of individual companies. That's a pretty desirable situation for companies. Not only do companies make targets of themselves when they downgrade coverage, but the overall compensation is also less transparent to the worker when insurance is tied to the workplace. Y…

Withholding health insurance is also a powerful tool for breaking/preventing strikes. While it would save employers money, it would also reduce their leverage, and workers would be able to move on to other demands, or quit

huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5d814caae4b0ddcef50a1460

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