Amazon reportedly has Pinkerton agents surveil workers who try to form unions

Post by purplecats » Thu, Dec 03, 2020, 11:24 PM UTC

grayhatter wrote: post #323

glaugh wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“What did you expect?” is my least favorite conversational trope (it’s more disappointing on HN because in general I have higher expectations here, but it’s common everywhere). On the surface it sounds smart and world-weary. As an actual part of a conversation, whether something is expected is pretty orthogonal to whether, say, something would ideally be done about it. I suppose it is relevant to whether something ma…

I love the common tropes, you only have to learn a single response that allows you to control the narrative. > What did you expect? Well, geez, I don't know basic human decency probably? Are we all so numb to asshattery that we're not surprised or upset when we learn about someone using power to hurt or control the little guy?

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Dec 03, 2020, 11:29 PM UTC

mrtksn wrote: post #287

_alex_ wrote: post #275

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I think you just described a union

See, it's not a union. Unions are apparently uncool in the USA. Think of it as Musk inventing the Tube by removing the engineeringly silly parts of the Hyperloop and adding a sharing economy feature to the result :) Why would you share your "not-union" membership with your employer? Instead, use it as a coordinator between your peers to prevent being underpaid and overworked do to information disparity you normally h…

Post by moocowtruck » Thu, Dec 03, 2020, 11:40 PM UTC

iso1631 wrote: post #217

moocowtruck wrote: post #37

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unionizing amazon would be horrible, I've been working at usps for 15+ years and unions are the reason for most of our troubles. Please lets not turn a company who makes a good product and pays people well for it into the enemy

So why don't you go and work for amazon?

Post by bsder » Thu, Dec 03, 2020, 11:43 PM UTC

Exmoor wrote: post #342

djsumdog wrote: post #181

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This is where the Tennessee Ernie Ford song comes from, "Sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. St. Peter don't call me cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store." There was an episode of South Park last season where they played this song as a backdrop to Amazon workers in a warehouse.

I would be remiss not to mention that Sixteen Tons was a Merle Travis song, recorded for the bona fide classic album[0] Folk Songs of the Hills. Both songs are classics, but the Travis version deserves to be heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I15_KUsOzs 0: The album was released in 1947 prior to the introduction of the 12" LP, so it was originally released as a literal album of multiple 78rpm singles. It is one…

Post by DFHippie » Thu, Dec 03, 2020, 11:48 PM UTC

syshum wrote: post #355

andybak wrote: post #332

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Nobody claimed a utopia. Extracting natural resources is always going to be a tough job that is ripe for exploitation. Did unions improve the lives of members? They certainly did where I come from. American labour history is more complex (union corruption and take over by organised crime seemed to run deeper)

That depends, sure you can point to examples where the Union did improve peoples lives But then i can also point to examples where they did not, where they ended up driving business out, bankrupting people Where unions are more focused on their own political power than helping workers Or even if in general the union helped the "average worker" the collectivist nature of unions means not everyone will be better off. F…