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When you employ hundreds of thousands of people, it’s not hard to find hundreds who are incredibly unhappy. Sure, this only represents 0.1% of their workforce,

by dymk 7y ago

When you employ hundreds of thousands of people, it’s not hard to find hundreds who are incredibly unhappy. Sure, this only represents 0.1% of their workforce, but news agencies don’t care about that. People just want something to be angry about. They’ll continue to ignore that $15/hour is within “living wage” for the low CoL areas that Amazon fulfillment warehouses are located in.

cyphar 7y ago
They aren't asking for a wage increase, they're asking for better working conditions -- this is explicitly talked about at length in TFA. Also, Amazon only started paying a minimum wage of $15/hour in Oct 2018 (9 months ago) -- in large part thanks to Bernie Sanders[1]. [1]: https://www.businessinsider.nl/bernie-sanders-amazon-fight-minimum-wage-raise-stop-bezos-act-win-2018-10/?international=true&r=US https://www.businessinsider.nl/bernie-sanders-amazon-fight-m...
vkou 7y ago
And I must say: When you employ hundreds of thousands of people, it's not hard to use divide-and-conquer against them, to get them to act against their common interests. Most of them are not in any position to push back on your demands, even if they'd all be better off from having the freedom to be able to step away from their 'highly important job' to have a piss in peace, without threat of termination.
dehrmann 7y ago
This reminds me of the Foxconn suicides. Lots of press made it sound like a major problem, but the actual rate was lower than both China and US averages.
- vkou 7y ago
  The averages include non-functioning alcoholics, drug addicts, retirees with no money to live on, who don't want to be a burden on their children, chronic gamblers, people in serious debt, people who are terminally ill, people who are too depressed to hold down a job, veterans with PTSD... In short, not the same demographics as people holding down 'decent' jobs for the area.

by dymk 7y ago

cyphar 7y ago

They aren't asking for a wage increase, they're asking for better working conditions -- this is explicitly talked about at length in TFA. Also, Amazon only started paying a minimum wage of $15/hour in Oct 2018 (9 months ago) -- in large part thanks to Bernie Sanders[1]. [1]: https://www.businessinsider.nl/bernie-sanders-amazon-fight-minimum-wage-raise-stop-bezos-act-win-2018-10/?international=true&r=US https://www.businessinsider.nl/bernie-sanders-amazon-fight-m...

vkou 7y ago

And I must say: When you employ hundreds of thousands of people, it's not hard to use divide-and-conquer against them, to get them to act against their common interests. Most of them are not in any position to push back on your demands, even if they'd all be better off from having the freedom to be able to step away from their 'highly important job' to have a piss in peace, without threat of termination.

dehrmann 7y ago

This reminds me of the Foxconn suicides. Lots of press made it sound like a major problem, but the actual rate was lower than both China and US averages.

vkou 7y ago
The averages include non-functioning alcoholics, drug addicts, retirees with no money to live on, who don't want to be a burden on their children, chronic gamblers, people in serious debt, people who are terminally ill, people who are too depressed to hold down a job, veterans with PTSD... In short, not the same demographics as people holding down 'decent' jobs for the area.