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> It’s not like there’s a club of past & future delivery company operators that meets regularly Why not? “National Delivery Drivers Union” sounds pretty good
by relax88 5y ago
> It’s not like there’s a club of past & future delivery company operators that meets regularly
Why not?
“National Delivery Drivers Union” sounds pretty good to me for a name.
If you want to negotiate with leverage against Amazon, you need to actually have the leverage.
Why is collective bargaining so weak in this industry?
- tablespoon 5y ago> Why is collective bargaining so weak in this industry? I think because small companies, not workers are the actors here. If the companies themselves got together, it might be interpreted as some kind of illegal cartel. However, it's kind of interesting to consider the idea of a union of small companies (that's permitted only because they're too week vis-a-vis their customers/vendors that they can be explioted, akin to most employee/employer relationships). Also, if you quit the business, why would keep participating in an organization that has no more relevance to you?
- bombcar 5y agoCartels are illegal, but industry associations are not. It's a fine line, but it can certainly be walked.
- gruez 5y agoWhat can an "industry association" do to pressure amazon?
- toomuchtodo 5y agoLobby to change the laws Amazon uses to exploit labor in this manner. Laws are mutable!
- alisonkisk 5y agoUnions are legal too. No workers, no delivery company.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- kwhitefoot 5y agoPresumably for the same reasons that collective bargaining is broken in most US industries; lack of trust between employees, unions, companies, government together with the pervasive belief that only individual success matters. Briefly: lack of solidarity.
- deadbunny 5y agoAmerican exceptionalism is a helluva drug.
- commandlinefan 5y ago> National Delivery Drivers Union Actually, they're called the teamsters and they've been around since the 1800's.
- smhenderson 5y agoThe Teamsters represent employees, individuals that is. Not small companies.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- cartoonworld 5y agoAmazon fronts the startup afiak and controls who gets to start the business. Unionizing this is a tough nut, what you are witnessing is not a usual labor protest--this is a Management protest. The Independent operators are shuttering in protest rather than keep suckling.
- deadbunny 5y agoIf a company pays your startup costs, they are your only "client", they control how much your staff get paid, when they work, and where they work you do not own a business you are an employee with extra steps. Steps that only benefit Amazon.
- cartoonworld 5y agoI guess you're right. Nice "flywheel", huh?
- somethoughts 5y agoInteresting - it could almost be like the National Association of Realtors. Perhaps similar to the National Association developed MLS and the backend APIs for Redfin and Zillow to access, a National Delivery Drivers Association could develop some sort of backend/API for facilitating delivery driver transactions for its members.
- alisonkisk 5y agoNAR and the regional MLSes are different organizations.
- reaperducer 5y ago“National Delivery Drivers Union” sounds pretty good to me for a name. This already exists. It's called The Teamsters, and was formed over a hundred years ago by people fighting many of the same problems that modern "gig" delivery drivers face today. But because companies like Amazon and Uber pretend they're strictly technology companies, people don't put the two ideas together. (A "teamster" is someone who drives a team of horses. Think "stagecoaches" and "goods wagons.")