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This is a great example of how labor laws in the US are weak (deal with this sudden, dramatic change to your schedule or you're fired). It is also an example of

This is a great example of how labor laws in the US are weak (deal with this sudden, dramatic change to your schedule or you're fired). It is also an example of how employers take great advantage of those weak labor laws. It is not, however, an example of how big corporations are evil. There's plenty of examples of that out there, this just isn't one. But for some reason is is surprisingly common for people to blame companies for following the law instead of blaming the actual culprit - the (arguably) bad laws made by (arguably) bad lawmakers. You see this everywhere, but for some reason it's especially common on HN.

ceilingcorner 6y ago
I don't do lots of bad things, even though I have the legal right to do so. Is it so much to ask the same of Amazon?
- standardUser 6y ago
  Yes, it is too much to ask a corporation to sacrifice it's own self-interest to be nice. That is why every nation in the world has thousands of laws regulating economic activity.
vangelis 6y ago
Regulations are written in blood. This seems like blaming OSHA for poor safety when an incident they hadn't yet considered happens.
AlexandrB 6y ago
A lot of times employers help write or weaken those labor laws (see proposition 22 in California). I'm not sure they can shrug their shoulders and say: "Aw shucks guys, we're just following the rules!".
tobmlt 6y ago
One of my first jobs was for a small engineering shop. Paid about 55k a year in 2010 dollars. It did pay overtime, that should have been my first warning. They hired me with the promise of 4x10 work-weeks. What happened in reality is that we came in at 7 am, worked to 6pm (or whenever "the boss" was ready to go home) with a 30 minute lunch, and then on Friday, ..."well we are behind so we need to come in again this week"... almost every week (there were a few exceptions) we worked all day Friday as well. Oh, and how about a half day Saturday many weeks. Once during my short time there, we had a solid week or more (hard to remember due to sleep deprivation and depression fogged recollections of this time) going at 90+ hours per week on a project. It was absolutely insane and I got out as soon as I could, trying to convince as many co-workers as I could (in practice only the young guys) that they were being gaslighted into thinking they had a good job. Luckily I was underemployed for my education level, and single; thus it was easy to get out of this, for there was no way to think sharply, keep proper food in the house, work out enough, etc., at this pace.

ceilingcorner 6y ago

I don't do lots of bad things, even though I have the legal right to do so. Is it so much to ask the same of Amazon?

standardUser 6y ago
Yes, it is too much to ask a corporation to sacrifice it's own self-interest to be nice. That is why every nation in the world has thousands of laws regulating economic activity.

vangelis 6y ago

Regulations are written in blood. This seems like blaming OSHA for poor safety when an incident they hadn't yet considered happens.

AlexandrB 6y ago

A lot of times employers help write or weaken those labor laws (see proposition 22 in California). I'm not sure they can shrug their shoulders and say: "Aw shucks guys, we're just following the rules!".

tobmlt 6y ago

One of my first jobs was for a small engineering shop. Paid about 55k a year in 2010 dollars. It did pay overtime, that should have been my first warning. They hired me with the promise of 4x10 work-weeks. What happened in reality is that we came in at 7 am, worked to 6pm (or whenever "the boss" was ready to go home) with a 30 minute lunch, and then on Friday, ..."well we are behind so we need to come in again this week"... almost every week (there were a few exceptions) we worked all day Friday as well. Oh, and how about a half day Saturday many weeks. Once during my short time there, we had a solid week or more (hard to remember due to sleep deprivation and depression fogged recollections of this time) going at 90+ hours per week on a project. It was absolutely insane and I got out as soon as I could, trying to convince as many co-workers as I could (in practice only the young guys) that they were being gaslighted into thinking they had a good job. Luckily I was underemployed for my education level, and single; thus it was easy to get out of this, for there was no way to think sharply, keep proper food in the house, work out enough, etc., at this pace.