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The marketplace may "set the going rate for labour" and all, but oligopoly and cartel-ism artificially depress wages. Much like walmart, Amazon's wages do not

The marketplace may "set the going rate for labour" and all, but oligopoly and cartel-ism artificially depress wages. Much like walmart, Amazon's wages do not respect the costs it takes to survive and continue working. It's just that simple. If you want your workforce to be able to do their jobs, they need to be afford a living standard above poverty. Anything else is either asking taxpayers to fund your business, or financially gaslighting your workers into failure. How is either option acceptable? Much like Walmart has historically done, Amazon warehouse workers in the US get "coached" in how to get food stamps. If you get sick, you risk getting fired. Get too old, you risk getting fired. Need too much time off? You guessed it... All of this is federally illegal, but conservative state laws make it impossible to hold any company accountable. Move over to their sysadmin side, and you'll see wages $10-20k less / year than the competition, for 80 hours work in a week instead of the average 60. And the same issues of what'll get you fired show up here as well. Combined with the fact that Amazon avoids paying taxes, this makes Jeff Bezos the biggest welfare queen in existence. Anyone else wanna kick Jeff Bezos off welfare?

ALittleLight 8y ago
One way to think of it is as Bezos being on welfare. Another way to think is that, presumably, the Amazon workers don't have better jobs available to them. If they weren't at Amazon then they'd be somewhere paying less, with less benefits, or unemployed. Without Amazon the workers would require more from the government. In this sense Amazon is subsidizing social welfare and not the other way around.
- prostoalex 8y ago
  They briefly mention that in the article - Amazon might be the household name in e-commerce, but they're kinda small fry as far logistics and fulfillment industry goes, and apparently a higher-paying one at that: "That Amazon positions its own offerings as highly competitive can, perhaps, be seen as something of an indictment of larger issues with warehouse fulfillment. While the company is an easy target, it’s certainly not alone."
- gizmo686 8y ago
  Amazon is providing a service to the market. Without that, there would be an opening for someone else to provide that service; and that someone else might treat their workers better. What is worse is that, at a systemic level, we advantage companies that pay less, because it is cheaper to the company, making them more effective (even though they shift the cost to the tax payer). This seems like a clear signature of something where regulation is appropriate.
satyrnein 8y ago
Can you elaborate on how state laws make it impossible to enforce federal laws against Amazon?
Lkjhmnbv 8y ago
Conservative states like Washington, NJ, and California. Is this a meme? Or copy pasta?
olliej 8y ago
McDonald’s, etc are the same - any job that pays employees so little that a full time job leaves them eligible for welfare and food stamps is fundamentally getting subsidized by the tax payers. So the question should be: why are we subsidizing corporations that make billions of dollars in profits?
- cafard 8y ago
  During my brief period working for McDonald's long ago, I'm not sure that there was anyone who was the head of a multi-person household, and I'm pretty sure that the manager and assistant manager were the only ones not still in high school. I did not enjoy working for McDonald's, but compared to the other options open to a high school student for a summer job, it did not stand out for low pay etc. The difficulties arise when McDonald's etc. become not a starter job but a long-term one, or when McDonald's terms of employment and pay become the model for what one can get.

ALittleLight 8y ago

One way to think of it is as Bezos being on welfare. Another way to think is that, presumably, the Amazon workers don't have better jobs available to them. If they weren't at Amazon then they'd be somewhere paying less, with less benefits, or unemployed. Without Amazon the workers would require more from the government. In this sense Amazon is subsidizing social welfare and not the other way around.

prostoalex 8y ago
They briefly mention that in the article - Amazon might be the household name in e-commerce, but they're kinda small fry as far logistics and fulfillment industry goes, and apparently a higher-paying one at that: "That Amazon positions its own offerings as highly competitive can, perhaps, be seen as something of an indictment of larger issues with warehouse fulfillment. While the company is an easy target, it’s certainly not alone."
gizmo686 8y ago
Amazon is providing a service to the market. Without that, there would be an opening for someone else to provide that service; and that someone else might treat their workers better. What is worse is that, at a systemic level, we advantage companies that pay less, because it is cheaper to the company, making them more effective (even though they shift the cost to the tax payer). This seems like a clear signature of something where regulation is appropriate.

satyrnein 8y ago

Can you elaborate on how state laws make it impossible to enforce federal laws against Amazon?

Lkjhmnbv 8y ago

Conservative states like Washington, NJ, and California. Is this a meme? Or copy pasta?

olliej 8y ago

McDonald’s, etc are the same - any job that pays employees so little that a full time job leaves them eligible for welfare and food stamps is fundamentally getting subsidized by the tax payers. So the question should be: why are we subsidizing corporations that make billions of dollars in profits?

cafard 8y ago
During my brief period working for McDonald's long ago, I'm not sure that there was anyone who was the head of a multi-person household, and I'm pretty sure that the manager and assistant manager were the only ones not still in high school. I did not enjoy working for McDonald's, but compared to the other options open to a high school student for a summer job, it did not stand out for low pay etc. The difficulties arise when McDonald's etc. become not a starter job but a long-term one, or when McDonald's terms of employment and pay become the model for what one can get.