4 ms·

In countries that have already fought the hard fight for worker rights there are laws in place to ensure workers' rights don't regress. Amazon isn't breaking an

In countries that have already fought the hard fight for worker rights there are laws in place to ensure workers' rights don't regress. Amazon isn't breaking any laws. The working conditions are safe, the employees are paid above minimum wage, and the employees are not working 80 hour weeks. The worst possible (legal) working conditions in these countries are far better than working conditions in third world countries. No matter what shopping choices you make, workers' rights in these countries will never regress to those of a third world country.

biafra 13y ago
There is no minimum wage in Germany.
- lsaferite 13y ago
  What? I find that incomprehensible. What is the replacement for that employee safeguard then?
  - computer 13y ago
    Unions and strikes, clearly.
  - samolang 13y ago
    From wikipedia: "The law states that paying a worker an "immoral wage" is illegal. There is no general consensus what constitutes 'immoral' payment. One judge at a court in Krefeld, Germany, ruled that a cashier at a supermarket has to earn the equivalent of approximately 7USD per hour. The federal courts in Germany ruled that any wage lower than 75% of the average wage or salary for a specific occupation constitutes illegal payment. However, since there is no well defined legal minimum wage as of February 2013, courts are usually the ones who have the final say and will only rule for individual cases."
  - masklinn 13y ago
    > What is the replacement for that employee safeguard then? Interestingly, as in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland don't have minimum wages either), collective bargaining agreements consensually worked on by labor unions, employers and local governments. There tends to be base sector-, industry- or trade-specific agreements. Other comments[0] indicate Amazon apparently does not care for any of these. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6916415 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6916415
- ama729 13y ago
  There is going to be one, it was one of the condition the socialist had before entering in a government with Merkel.
phaer 13y ago
> workers' rights in these countries will never regress to those of a third world country. Except if enough people follow those "It's fine here, you are protected by the law and it's much much worse elsewhere, be happy with what get"-argumentation. Then the will probably regress because companies have a strong interest to produce cheaper than those in places where there are less regulations but they loose any interest in workers rights if there's no protesting working class. And companies interest, trough lobbying and so on, quickly becomes the governments interest.

biafra 13y ago

There is no minimum wage in Germany.

lsaferite 13y ago
What? I find that incomprehensible. What is the replacement for that employee safeguard then?
- computer 13y ago
  Unions and strikes, clearly.
- samolang 13y ago
  From wikipedia: "The law states that paying a worker an "immoral wage" is illegal. There is no general consensus what constitutes 'immoral' payment. One judge at a court in Krefeld, Germany, ruled that a cashier at a supermarket has to earn the equivalent of approximately 7USD per hour. The federal courts in Germany ruled that any wage lower than 75% of the average wage or salary for a specific occupation constitutes illegal payment. However, since there is no well defined legal minimum wage as of February 2013, courts are usually the ones who have the final say and will only rule for individual cases."
- masklinn 13y ago
  > What is the replacement for that employee safeguard then? Interestingly, as in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland don't have minimum wages either), collective bargaining agreements consensually worked on by labor unions, employers and local governments. There tends to be base sector-, industry- or trade-specific agreements. Other comments[0] indicate Amazon apparently does not care for any of these. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6916415 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6916415
ama729 13y ago
There is going to be one, it was one of the condition the socialist had before entering in a government with Merkel.

phaer 13y ago

> workers' rights in these countries will never regress to those of a third world country. Except if enough people follow those "It's fine here, you are protected by the law and it's much much worse elsewhere, be happy with what get"-argumentation. Then the will probably regress because companies have a strong interest to produce cheaper than those in places where there are less regulations but they loose any interest in workers rights if there's no protesting working class. And companies interest, trough lobbying and so on, quickly becomes the governments interest.