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> The decision pointed to moves by the company encouraging staff to vote via a mailbox it had the Postal Service install at its warehouse, surrounding the mailb

> The decision pointed to moves by the company encouraging staff to vote via a mailbox it had the Postal Service install at its warehouse, surrounding the mailbox with its campaign slogan and locating it where workers may have thought Amazon was surveilling them. I do not understand this, and also don't understand why this is just glossed over in a single sentence in this article and not unpacked more. Generic cynicism aside, since when can a private company just "have the Postal Service" install a mailbox on its property? This makes it sound like the USPS is at corporate beck and call. This makes it sound like a company can call up the postal service, say 'setup an official mailbox on our private property', and the post office responds with 'sure, we'll be right over'.

iudqnolq 5y ago
This is amazon. They also had the red light on the public road you turn off to enter the warehouse shortened so that Union advocates would have less time to speak to workers stuck in traffic.
- Ansil849 5y ago
  Source?
  - iudqnolq 5y ago
    https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/17/22287191/amazon-alabama-warehouse-union-traffic-light-change-bessemer https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/17/22287191/amazon-alabama-w...
    - Ansil849 5y ago
      This just says: > More Perfect Union confirmed with Jefferson County officials that last year, Amazon notified the county of traffic delays during shift changes and asked for the light to be changed. And then the unsubstantiated speculation is that this was done as a form of union busting, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence presented (like internal meeting notes, emails, any kind of evidence, really) that this was actually the case.
      - iudqnolq 5y ago
        Correct. Amazon did not literally admit in writing to violating the law.
        Ansil849 5y ago
        I mean...then it's just speculation. That's the difference between a smoking gun and opinion. Far be it for me to come off as defending Amazon, but claiming that light patterns were altered to shave seconds off organizers engaging with cars at a traffic light seems like a reach. It's nothing I'd put past Amazon goons doing, sure, but it's also not something I'd believe without any actual proof. Your original post was: > They also had the red light on the public road you turn off to enter the warehouse shortened so that Union advocates would have less time to speak to workers stuck in traffic. But the only available evidence is that the former happened, not the latter 'so that..'.
        iudqnolq 5y ago
        I think you need to consider it within the whole context. There's evidence of Amazon doing many other similar things to restrict unionizing, as the nrlb found. Given all that, I don't think it's reasonable to give them the benefit of the doubt in this sort of situation.
        Ansil849 5y ago
        I get it, which is why I said I definitely wouldn't put it past Amazon to do something like that. But I also think that this kind of talk can actively hurt organizing efforts. If I were someone on the fence about unionizing, and someone told me "you know Amazon changed the stoplight to prevent us from being able to talk to you", and I were to then look into it and find that while Amazon did change the stoplight speed, there's no evidence that they did it specifically to mess with organizing efforts, then I'd be pretty annoyed and write off the organizer as being full of shit. We need to stick to verifiable acts of union busting, especially because as you said, there are plenty of them to choose from, without rattling off speculation that can't be substantiated as if it were fact.
boomboomsubban 5y ago
>Generic cynicism aside, since when can a private company just "have the Postal Service" install a mailbox on its property?. Is this drastically different from apartment buildings paying to have mailboxes installed? I bet if you called them and said you had some reason to expect a massive increase in letters sent from your front lawn they'd quote you a price to install a mailbox.

iudqnolq 5y ago

This is amazon. They also had the red light on the public road you turn off to enter the warehouse shortened so that Union advocates would have less time to speak to workers stuck in traffic.

Ansil849 5y ago
Source?
- iudqnolq 5y ago
  https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/17/22287191/amazon-alabama-warehouse-union-traffic-light-change-bessemer https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/17/22287191/amazon-alabama-w...
  - Ansil849 5y ago
    This just says: > More Perfect Union confirmed with Jefferson County officials that last year, Amazon notified the county of traffic delays during shift changes and asked for the light to be changed. And then the unsubstantiated speculation is that this was done as a form of union busting, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence presented (like internal meeting notes, emails, any kind of evidence, really) that this was actually the case.
    - iudqnolq 5y ago
      Correct. Amazon did not literally admit in writing to violating the law.
      - Ansil849 5y ago
        I mean...then it's just speculation. That's the difference between a smoking gun and opinion. Far be it for me to come off as defending Amazon, but claiming that light patterns were altered to shave seconds off organizers engaging with cars at a traffic light seems like a reach. It's nothing I'd put past Amazon goons doing, sure, but it's also not something I'd believe without any actual proof. Your original post was: > They also had the red light on the public road you turn off to enter the warehouse shortened so that Union advocates would have less time to speak to workers stuck in traffic. But the only available evidence is that the former happened, not the latter 'so that..'.
        iudqnolq 5y ago
        I think you need to consider it within the whole context. There's evidence of Amazon doing many other similar things to restrict unionizing, as the nrlb found. Given all that, I don't think it's reasonable to give them the benefit of the doubt in this sort of situation.
        Ansil849 5y ago
        I get it, which is why I said I definitely wouldn't put it past Amazon to do something like that. But I also think that this kind of talk can actively hurt organizing efforts. If I were someone on the fence about unionizing, and someone told me "you know Amazon changed the stoplight to prevent us from being able to talk to you", and I were to then look into it and find that while Amazon did change the stoplight speed, there's no evidence that they did it specifically to mess with organizing efforts, then I'd be pretty annoyed and write off the organizer as being full of shit. We need to stick to verifiable acts of union busting, especially because as you said, there are plenty of them to choose from, without rattling off speculation that can't be substantiated as if it were fact.

boomboomsubban 5y ago

>Generic cynicism aside, since when can a private company just "have the Postal Service" install a mailbox on its property?. Is this drastically different from apartment buildings paying to have mailboxes installed? I bet if you called them and said you had some reason to expect a massive increase in letters sent from your front lawn they'd quote you a price to install a mailbox.