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Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

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Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#81

Post by linuxftw »

da_chicken wrote: post #10
foob4r wrote: post #2

Seems like Amazon's getting desperate now. Too bad the US government is the weakest in decades it's been to do something for the workers.

It wouldn't matter. The current administration is from a party whose platform is as anti-labor as their opposition was under Woodrow Wilson. Even if we had a strong Federal government right now, it would be interested in aiding Amazon , not it's workforce. As it is I fully expect to hear talking points that "responsible" workers wouldn't strike or try to organize, or that there should be a law against unionization du…

> The current administration is from a party whose platform is as anti-labor as their opposition was under Woodrow Wilson

Is that true? Increased tariffs, renegotiated trade deals (increased tariffs), attempting to tighten immigration, lowering taxes on repatriation of cash. Those are all pro worker.

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#82

Post by sct202 »

easytiger wrote: post #42
greendave wrote: post #31

Would be interesting to see a comparison of Amazon's tactics and Walmart's. Traditionally Walmart has gotten a lot of bad press for its working conditions and its destruction of small businesses across the US. Amazon has thusfar had far less scrutiny.

> Amazon has thusfar had far less scrutiny. Are you quite serious?

Walmart used to be in all these kinds of headlines if you look back across the last 10 years; shutting down sites that try to unionize, supplier pressure and mistreatment. Hilary Clinton got a lot of flack for being on their board during her presidential runs.

Plus there's a class aspect (People of Walmart) that made it easy for people to proudly say they're boycotting Walmart when they would never shop there anyways.

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#83

Post by klenwell »

duxup wrote: post #61
rednerrus wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trump hates Bezos enough to try to shut USPS to get to him. I'm sure he'd love to get the double whammy of screwing over Bezos and a boost from working class voters in swing states.

Trump has plenty of employees in his businesses, and support from lots of business folks. I would expect Trump to cut his nose off to spite his face at any moment ... but not if it meant using the federal government to side with a labor movement like this. He has likely made that choice already with his appointments.

> Trump has plenty of employees in his businesses, and support from lots of business folks.

On that topic:

For some, it was a plainly calculated choice. Thomas Peterffy, a billionaire who owned the largest estate in Greenwich, donated to Trump but never pretended to admire him. “When the choice is between two ideologies, then it’s a luxury to dwell on the personalities of the candidates,” he told me. “It’s a luxury that we cannot afford.” Peterffy, who made his fortune as a pioneer in digital trading, said that the choice was between “a high degree of government regulation or a diminished amount of government regulation, because, basically, that’s how the U.S. will get to socialism—increasing government regulation.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/11/how-greenwich-...

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#84

Post by wgerard »

ForHackernews wrote: post #48
euix wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea this something I realized recently with the VP guy leaving. As a upper-middle elitist working engineering/ML/management how do you reconcile the cognitive dissonance? I have been considering a career changing and one of the things is studying for interviews at the FAANGS and I have trouble working for the "man" as it is and this whole affair is just turning me off more.

This isn't that hard: Just don't work for the evil ones! If their recruiters contact you, tell them why. There are plenty of non-evil companies that will pay you well to do interesting work. Even in your "FAANG" list, Netflix just makes entertaining videos. Apple makes pleasantly overpriced hardware and competes on privacy in software. Apply to them, instead of ad-tech and sweatshops-as-a-service.

Just to play devil's advocate a little:

You should look up some of the ethical issues around cobalt mining [1], which Apple is at least indirectly complicit in.

Netflix famously made their culture documents transparent to much derision about their workplace being an unhealthy competitive environment. Relatedly, they're also arguably the most famous progenitor of the "unlimited-vacation-but-don't-actually-take-it-or-else" workplace cliche.

1: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/dec/16/a...

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#85

Post by londons_explore »

redmattred wrote: post #45

Here is the page to cancel your Amazon Prime membership: https://www.amazon.com/mc/pipelines/cancellation

If you are not happy with the way amazon treats it's warehouse workers, you should work to get the law changed, benefiting workers at big and small organisations across lots of jobs.

Targeting Amazon just because it's a household brand simply makes an uneven labor playing field - sure, amazon workers might get paid better after your protest, but J J Doe and Sons Glassworkers won't change their ways. Nor will the no-name Ebayers.

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#86

Post by mellow2020 »

jordache wrote: post #51
redmattred wrote: post #45

Here is the page to cancel your Amazon Prime membership: https://www.amazon.com/mc/pipelines/cancellation

i don't understand this movement. If there is a purity test, to gauge your alignment with the internal company rules associated with every goods + service you rely on, then there needs to be transparency across the entire world economic landscape. Why cherry pick? Just because media decided to bring it to your attention? So you canceled Amazon Prime, everything else in your life was produced by some other entity. Do…

> there needs to be transparency across the entire world economic landscape.

> Why cherry pick?

You have to begin somewhere. You could always ask "Why begin here? Why not elsewhere?". A fine response would be "Why do you care? Where have you started? Oh wait, you haven't, and you aren't even making it clear you intend to. Bye."

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#87

Post by claudeganon »

rochester46 wrote: post #80
claudeganon wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s because they’re not decrying the wages or health benefits, but the overall treatment and union-busting. You can have good wages and benefits for this kind of labor without firing organizers, plotting to smear them as “inarticulate” in the press, and exposing workers to undue injury and disease.

>That’s because they’re not decrying the wages or health benefits Speak for yourself. The vast majority of complaints about Amazon on this forum are explicitly referencing pay.

The top-voted comment on your thread suggests otherwise.

I think the workers should be receiving more in hazard pay, but this whole round of controversy was sparked by their firing warehouse workers organizing for better safety, not pay.

Where do you work, BTW? Your account is about a month old and only seems to comment on stories about Amazon.

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#88

Post by retrac »

MattGaiser wrote: post #72
retrac wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pre-crisis, Amazon's warehouse workers in Ontario made just a little over minimum wage.

Ontario minimum wage is the 2nd highest of any state/provincial entity in North America at $14. Sure that is not taking currency exchange into account, but prices are also in CAD in Canada.

Ontario's minimum wage would be $10 USD an hour, lower than quite a few US states.

And prices might be in CAD, but Canada has a higher cost of living than the USA. Some examples with prices in USD -- Rent on a dingy 1-bedroom apartment in a medium-sized city in Ontario will be about $800 USD/month. Gasoline is $3.90 / gallon currently. Chicken breast costs about $4 / lb.

And that's to be afforded on a $10 USD wage. The minimum wage here is not a living wage. Workers have every right to be upset with that.

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#89

Post by josefresco »

greendave wrote: post #31

Would be interesting to see a comparison of Amazon's tactics and Walmart's. Traditionally Walmart has gotten a lot of bad press for its working conditions and its destruction of small businesses across the US. Amazon has thusfar had far less scrutiny.

> Amazon has thusfar had far less scrutiny

This was true maybe 4-5 years ago when Amazon was the "darling" of the online retail industry. Those days are long gone.

Re: Amazon locks down internal employee communications amid organizing efforts

#90

Post by rochester46 »

claudeganon wrote: post #87
rochester46 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>That’s because they’re not decrying the wages or health benefits Speak for yourself. The vast majority of complaints about Amazon on this forum are explicitly referencing pay.

The top-voted comment on your thread suggests otherwise. I think the workers should be receiving more in hazard pay, but this whole round of controversy was sparked by their firing warehouse workers organizing for better safety, not pay. Where do you work, BTW? Your account is about a month old and only seems to comment on stories about Amazon.

The "top-voted comment" anywhere has no bearing on what is or is not the majority argument.
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