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It's not just about wages. I think Amazon has actually made great strides by raising their minimum wages to $15/h. According to US stats the monetary benefit fr
by simsla 6y ago
It's not just about wages. I think Amazon has actually made great strides by raising their minimum wages to $15/h. According to US stats the monetary benefit from unionising is about +11% on average. By offering twice the federal minimum, it's possible that Amazon is already above that. Now, you can argue that minimum wage should be higher still, but that's a separate discussion.
I don't think we should pretend that FC jobs will ever be super high paying or enviable jobs, but there are other ways to improve worker conditions. e.g. In some FC's, people allegedly have to walk for 20 minutes to reach a toilet. That's easily fixed. Making sure people don't have to choose between feeding their families and casting a vote in the election is another example. In general, even for a low skill job, pressure shouldn't be so high as to burn people out.
I think some FCs might actually have decent worker conditions. Others don't. As you alluded to, a company has financial interests that may not align with worker interests, which is why I think this needs to be approached in a structural way. Like Bezos himself once said: "Good intentions don't work; you need good mechanisms to make anything happen."
- lotsofpulp 6y ago>which is why I think this needs to be approached in a structural way. The answer is federal legislation. How break time, overtime after certain # of work hours in a day, parental leave. If we want people to have a certain quality of life at work, I don't see any purpose directing any energy at certain large employers. All efforts should be direct to politicians, who we can vote in, to provide that quality of life at work.
- simsla 6y agoI do agree that a top-down approach is preferable, but in the meantime I still see self-organising and collective bargaining as a good thing.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoThe down side is politicians can point to whatever pittance the workers win in their negotiations and say market forces are working.
- plandis 6y ago> If we want people to have a certain quality of life at work, I don't see any purpose directing any energy at certain large employers. All efforts should be direct to politicians, who we can vote in, to provide that quality of life at work. The US did that and the governments solutions was to pass laws allowing for unions. By unionizing these employees are doing the thing the government has already determined will help them.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoAnd obviously it's not working due to the lack of power labor has in the face of automation and globalization.