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And then what? Amazon will continue to do the bare minimum to appease these signals periodically. It is not the duty of consumers to provide a social safety ne

And then what? Amazon will continue to do the bare minimum to appease these signals periodically. It is not the duty of consumers to provide a social safety net for workers. This is precisely where government should step in. If you really give a shit about the people working at Amazon, write to your congressman/congresswoman and voice your support for social programs that would positively impact them.

_bxg1 7y ago
> If you really give a shit about the people working at Amazon, write to your congressman/congresswoman and voice your support for social programs that would positively impact them. It's not either/or. In today's political climate, unfortunately, pushing the market is the only thing that seems to ever accomplish anything.
- jefflombardjr 7y ago
  > It's not either/or Valid point. I do question how much something like this could realistically push the market though. Boycotting a public transportation system with only one revenue stream is very different from boycotting a multinational corp with diversified revenue streams.
fao_ 7y ago
> And then what? Amazon will continue to do the bare minimum to appease these signals periodically. Which is the point of a strike. > It is not the duty of consumers to provide a social safety net for workers. This is precisely where government should step in. If you really give a shit about the people working at Amazon, write to your congressman/congresswoman and voice your support for social programs that would positively impact them. The reason people are striking is because again and again, the american government has not done this, and many people (on this site, even) believe that the government should not do it. That's kind of the whole point of the 'small government' schtick.
- jefflombardjr 7y ago
  I'm not against striking - I'm just undecided on the efficiency of it in this particular case. It seems to me it would be easier to get people to vote than to boycott Amazon in an impactful way. But as brundolf pointed out, it doesn't have to be either/or.
Uehreka 7y ago
Strikes can serve multiple purposes. Generally, the first purpose is showing the employer that the workers have leverage and are willing to use it, but if the strike becomes publicly known and discussed by people who aren’t Amazon or its employees, it can provoke discussion in the wider society about workers’ rights. That may not happen as the result of one strike, but if there are lots of strikes over a period of time they can incrementally make the public more aware and tilt the odds of electing people who will pass such legislation.
mparramon 7y ago
Why not both?

_bxg1 7y ago

> If you really give a shit about the people working at Amazon, write to your congressman/congresswoman and voice your support for social programs that would positively impact them. It's not either/or. In today's political climate, unfortunately, pushing the market is the only thing that seems to ever accomplish anything.

jefflombardjr 7y ago
> It's not either/or Valid point. I do question how much something like this could realistically push the market though. Boycotting a public transportation system with only one revenue stream is very different from boycotting a multinational corp with diversified revenue streams.

fao_ 7y ago

> And then what? Amazon will continue to do the bare minimum to appease these signals periodically. Which is the point of a strike. > It is not the duty of consumers to provide a social safety net for workers. This is precisely where government should step in. If you really give a shit about the people working at Amazon, write to your congressman/congresswoman and voice your support for social programs that would positively impact them. The reason people are striking is because again and again, the american government has not done this, and many people (on this site, even) believe that the government should not do it. That's kind of the whole point of the 'small government' schtick.

jefflombardjr 7y ago
I'm not against striking - I'm just undecided on the efficiency of it in this particular case. It seems to me it would be easier to get people to vote than to boycott Amazon in an impactful way. But as brundolf pointed out, it doesn't have to be either/or.

Uehreka 7y ago

Strikes can serve multiple purposes. Generally, the first purpose is showing the employer that the workers have leverage and are willing to use it, but if the strike becomes publicly known and discussed by people who aren’t Amazon or its employees, it can provoke discussion in the wider society about workers’ rights. That may not happen as the result of one strike, but if there are lots of strikes over a period of time they can incrementally make the public more aware and tilt the odds of electing people who will pass such legislation.

mparramon 7y ago

Why not both?