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I'm not American, so my perception of this is skewed through whatever media I consume. My understanding is that America doesn't have fantastic worker protectio

I'm not American, so my perception of this is skewed through whatever media I consume. My understanding is that America doesn't have fantastic worker protections or a high minimum wage, and unionizing would allow workers more leverage in demanding these things. If you think these workers should unionize, why, and what are the benefits? If you think these workers are better off without a union, why? What are the benefits of not being in a union?

taurath 6y ago
Benefits include being able to demand better working conditions such as reduced work quotas, increased time for bathroom breaks, better pay, and more sick time and/or better shift scheduling. Union work in the US tends to pay a lot more because they have negotiating power. Amazon can afford anything but squeezes their workforce constantly.
krageon 6y ago
It's not necessarily a union they need, the US (and also globally Amazon) just needs to stop exploiting people as hard as they can just because they can. It's a sick impulse that a lot of people try to justify as "you must because shareholders", which is both wrong and meaningless besides. Of course, given the majority no votes so far the chances of people taking their individual responsibility (either to speak up or otherwise improve the lot of their fellows) is pretty low.
- akagusu 6y ago
  There is no such thing as "just stop exploiting people". The ethos of the modern society is "make as much money as you can no matter how" and the best way to make big money is exploiting people. You can make good money without exploiting people and it is what small businesses do, but you won't be a multi billionaire corp following ethics, law, and treating people respectfully. Unfortunately, being a multi billion business implies you will squeeze every single penny from suppliers, employees and customers and it is exactly what Amazon does.
hooande 6y ago
Unions cost money, in the form of dues from employees and expenses for the company. It's up to each person to decide if the benefits of union protection outweigh those costs in their situation. So far, for this Amazon warehouse, the answer seems to be that they don't.
refurb 6y ago
Some unions, not all, in the US tend to become bureaucratic entities in and of themselves, mostly dedicated to their own survival. They become unresponsive to member interests, mostly settle for middle of the road solutions (pay based on seniority, not performance; protect your members from being fired no matter what - even from things like incompetence or criminal behavior). They also tend to have very adversarial relationships with management (goals seem more aligned in Europe) business not doing well? Fuck you, we want a raise. Again, there are good unions in the US. But there have been some bad apples that sour workers and make them doubt they will be better off.

taurath 6y ago

Benefits include being able to demand better working conditions such as reduced work quotas, increased time for bathroom breaks, better pay, and more sick time and/or better shift scheduling. Union work in the US tends to pay a lot more because they have negotiating power. Amazon can afford anything but squeezes their workforce constantly.

krageon 6y ago

It's not necessarily a union they need, the US (and also globally Amazon) just needs to stop exploiting people as hard as they can just because they can. It's a sick impulse that a lot of people try to justify as "you must because shareholders", which is both wrong and meaningless besides. Of course, given the majority no votes so far the chances of people taking their individual responsibility (either to speak up or otherwise improve the lot of their fellows) is pretty low.

akagusu 6y ago
There is no such thing as "just stop exploiting people". The ethos of the modern society is "make as much money as you can no matter how" and the best way to make big money is exploiting people. You can make good money without exploiting people and it is what small businesses do, but you won't be a multi billionaire corp following ethics, law, and treating people respectfully. Unfortunately, being a multi billion business implies you will squeeze every single penny from suppliers, employees and customers and it is exactly what Amazon does.

hooande 6y ago

Unions cost money, in the form of dues from employees and expenses for the company. It's up to each person to decide if the benefits of union protection outweigh those costs in their situation. So far, for this Amazon warehouse, the answer seems to be that they don't.

refurb 6y ago

Some unions, not all, in the US tend to become bureaucratic entities in and of themselves, mostly dedicated to their own survival. They become unresponsive to member interests, mostly settle for middle of the road solutions (pay based on seniority, not performance; protect your members from being fired no matter what - even from things like incompetence or criminal behavior). They also tend to have very adversarial relationships with management (goals seem more aligned in Europe) business not doing well? Fuck you, we want a raise. Again, there are good unions in the US. But there have been some bad apples that sour workers and make them doubt they will be better off.