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With the Amazon Project, the Teamsters are taking a different approach that doesn't rely on the traditional National Labor Relations Board election process that

With the Amazon Project, the Teamsters are taking a different approach that doesn't rely on the traditional National Labor Relations Board election process that allows employers to run sophisticated anti-union campaigns and involves the task of running elections warehouse by warehouse. Instead the Teamsters plan to focus on a series of pressure campaigns involving work stoppages, petitions, and other collective action to push Amazon to recognize a union and bargain over working conditions. Faced with workers who don't want to join a union and laws which protect them, the Teamsters plan a series of coercive measures which will force workers into a union whether they want it or not.

jacquesm 5y ago
It's not quite that simple. In a push for unionization it isn't rare at all to see management come down hard on those that favored it, so unless there is an overwhelming chance of success there could easily be a large chunk of people who abstain from voting. Otherwise in the next round of lay-offs your number could easily have a higher chance of popping up, and as the organizers it isn't rare at all to be fired on some pretext. The reported outcome is typically only for those who did vote. Personally I think that unions should be open to membership regardless of whether the company has a majority of the people there that want to be part of a union, and that companies should never be able to deny employees the right to unionize.
- cperciva 5y ago
  A set of workers can always form a union. A recent example of this took place at Google. The only time there's a vote is when they want to force all the other workers to join the same union.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    I don't think that's ok, you should never be forced to do business with a particular party, even if that party is a union that ostensibly works to your advantage. Here in NL there are multiple unions and people can join or abstain on an individual basis. I do think people should not be able to join more than one union.

jacquesm 5y ago

It's not quite that simple. In a push for unionization it isn't rare at all to see management come down hard on those that favored it, so unless there is an overwhelming chance of success there could easily be a large chunk of people who abstain from voting. Otherwise in the next round of lay-offs your number could easily have a higher chance of popping up, and as the organizers it isn't rare at all to be fired on some pretext. The reported outcome is typically only for those who did vote. Personally I think that unions should be open to membership regardless of whether the company has a majority of the people there that want to be part of a union, and that companies should never be able to deny employees the right to unionize.

cperciva 5y ago
A set of workers can always form a union. A recent example of this took place at Google. The only time there's a vote is when they want to force all the other workers to join the same union.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  I don't think that's ok, you should never be forced to do business with a particular party, even if that party is a union that ostensibly works to your advantage. Here in NL there are multiple unions and people can join or abstain on an individual basis. I do think people should not be able to join more than one union.