Amazon Warehouse Workers In Alabama File To Hold Unionization Vote (washingtonpost.com) 75
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Washington Post: Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama have filed a notice to hold a unionization vote, in what could be a major labor battle against a company that has long opposed the unionization of its workforce. Employees at a newly opened Amazon facility in Bessemer, Ala., notified the National Labor Relations Board that they want to hold an election to create a bargaining unit that would cover 1,500 full-time and part-time workers. The group seeks to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). A website created by the union encourages Bessemer warehouse workers to join the organizing drive to secure not just better pay, but also improved safety standards. "We face outrageous work quotas that have left many with illnesses and lifetime injuries," the union said on the site. "With a union contract, we can form a worker safety committee, and negotiate the highest safety standards and protocols for our workplace."
Amazon counters that its warehouses are safe and that it pays a minimum wage of $15 an hour, as well as offering such benefits as health care, vision and dental insurance, spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said in an emailed statement. "We don't believe this group represents the majority of our employees' views." The Bessemer warehouse is among the newer Amazon facilities. It began operating in March and is one of dozens of new logistics sites the company has opened since the pandemic began to address the surge in online buying caused by consumers' reluctance to shop in person. The notice of the workers' filing with the labor board offers few details about the effort. In addition to listing the location and number of employees that would be part of the bargaining unit, the filing notes that the union would cover "All hourly full-time and regular part-time fulfillment center employees including leads and learning ambassadors." It would exclude truck drivers, clerical, maintenance and engineering employees, and supervisors, among others. [...] Amazon can contest the size and composition of the proposed bargaining unit. And it can raise questions over the authorization cards. Givan anticipates Amazon will use all the tools at its disposal to beat back the union drive. "To file the NLRB notice, the union needed to have cards authorizing the RWDSU to represent workers in collective bargaining signed by at least 30 percent of the proposed negotiating unit," the report adds, citing Rebecca Givan, a labor studies professor at Rutgers University. "But she noted that very few unions would file for a union vote without 'a very strong majority' of cards signed, or support at the Alabama warehouse from well over 750 workers."
Amazon counters that its warehouses are safe and that it pays a minimum wage of $15 an hour, as well as offering such benefits as health care, vision and dental insurance, spokeswoman Rachael Lighty said in an emailed statement. "We don't believe this group represents the majority of our employees' views." The Bessemer warehouse is among the newer Amazon facilities. It began operating in March and is one of dozens of new logistics sites the company has opened since the pandemic began to address the surge in online buying caused by consumers' reluctance to shop in person. The notice of the workers' filing with the labor board offers few details about the effort. In addition to listing the location and number of employees that would be part of the bargaining unit, the filing notes that the union would cover "All hourly full-time and regular part-time fulfillment center employees including leads and learning ambassadors." It would exclude truck drivers, clerical, maintenance and engineering employees, and supervisors, among others. [...] Amazon can contest the size and composition of the proposed bargaining unit. And it can raise questions over the authorization cards. Givan anticipates Amazon will use all the tools at its disposal to beat back the union drive. "To file the NLRB notice, the union needed to have cards authorizing the RWDSU to represent workers in collective bargaining signed by at least 30 percent of the proposed negotiating unit," the report adds, citing Rebecca Givan, a labor studies professor at Rutgers University. "But she noted that very few unions would file for a union vote without 'a very strong majority' of cards signed, or support at the Alabama warehouse from well over 750 workers."
I wonder (Score:5, Insightful)
If the vote is yes, I wonder how long it will stay open.
Re:I wonder (Score:4, Insightful)
You are the kind of person that causes unions.
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It's a question of balance. Initially, unions were formed to try and ensure that workers weren't exploited, as is the case with Amazon today. This eventually triggered labour law reform and unions became somewhat redundant, switching to empire-building and, from what I hear of how they operate in the US, semi-criminal if not outright criminal behaviour. So you need a balance, unions defending workers' rights is good, unions as criminal enterprises is bad. Luckily our militant unions were more or less de
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Wow, that's messed up. Here union membership is voluntary, you can't be prevented from joining a union but there's also no requirement to do so. Hearing about police unions there explains why they're so powerful.
A lot of the stuff that used to be taken care of by unions here has migrated into labour law, so for example you can't fire someone for no reason, etc. This is why unions still exist but have mostly wound down from the militant level they used to be at in the bad old days. The only real areas w
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f you decide to call in sick, or join a union, you're fired.
Are you sure that is true? I mean, the 1935 Labor Relations Act sounds like that might make it a little less clear cut, but IANAL so IDK for sure.,
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You don't even know me. But I would do it because unions are crap. I see how they kill companies they exist in. I see how you get work stoppages if a truck driver unloads his own truck. I see how facilities cease to operate when a normal person can't plug in a power strip and you have to wait for the union electrician to show up. I see how every American company that is unionized wants you to pay for overpriced, inferior shit just because it is American workers getting paid 5 times what they should be for t
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Fix BOTH problems. Don't justify one with the other.
I'm not sure you understand why unions exist. Now granted I'm not a super pro-union person. You're trading one swamp for another. But the thing is there has to be a threat held to the necks of these CEOs and at the moment since company co-ops and other free standing organization methods in the US are not given any bite in the NLRB, union is pretty much the only thing people have. So you have an issue where our government forces us into false dichotomies as one issue.
Second look at what is being said her
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But they have people signing up for the jobs. No one is making anyone work there. If Amazon starts having a problem in the community filling jobs, then either the conditions will improve or the wages will increase. I don't argue that there isn't a problem. But unions are NEVER the answer.
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No one is making anyone work there.
Fuck that. I don't buy good from unionized companies if I can help it. I refuse to pay that "tax". I'll happily buy goods from overseas company that charge a fair amount for the product.
Actually you are forcing them. Consumers are a problem that companies are more than happy to "help fix". So yeah, you are exactly the problem or at least your mindset you've been espousing this whole thread.
If Amazon starts having a problem in the community filling jobs, then either the conditions will improve or the wages will increase.
Amazon is just taking advantage of a mindset that's poisonous. Remove the mindset that poisons productivity and yeah you fix the problem. But that would require you and folks that think like you to have a small amount of introspection. People talk days long about the gluttony of the masses, never st
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You are the kind of person that causes unions.
And you are the kind of person who makes little girls believe in unicorns.
Re: I wonder (Score:1, Insightful)
Thatâ(TM)s because you are an asshole, and none of your employees want to work for you. They will enjoy the unemployment benefits.
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Unemployment benefits are time limited, and sans the Covid funding for them which is running out, are not well-paying.
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Yeah you sure showed them.
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That borders on illegal. What's wrong, you don't believe in the right of free association? You don't believe that your employees have the same freedom as you, to decide on the value of their labor?
You have a job because a robot can't do it (Score:5, Insightful)
But hey, knock yourselves out. Hopefully they don't vote yes. If you do, they might start to invest in ways to get rid of the current warehouse jobs.
You understand they're the leader in automating away jobs, right? If you have a job at Amazon, it's because they haven't figured out how to do it with a robot yet. When Amazon hires you, it's because they have no other option. They're not a charity, they don't like people. They love technology. Even if a human can do it cheaper, they prefer machines because they don't sue or call in sick, and tend to last longer than workers.
I disagree. Jeff Bezos is the world's richest man. He makes a ton from Amazon. Stop spreading the FUD. If you have a job at Amazon, it's not out of Jeff's mercy, but because he needs you...and thus you deserve to get paid accordingly. He extracts as much money as he can get by with from you and became the richest man in the world doing so...you should do the same to him. That whole...oh, no, they're going to close down the plant is just designed to strike fear into workers to ensure they kill themselves for poverty-level jobs. The balance of power is extremely lopsided and very destructive to everyone involved, but Jeff Bezos.
The years of mega corporations exploiting workers is affecting us all. It means less money in the economy, ensuring private businesses earn less, like my employer and less tax revenue (because all billionaire have teams of accountants to dodge tax obligations) thus meaning you and I have to foot the bill for Jeff Bezos's excessive lifestyle and ensure the roads are built, police and fireman are paid, etc.
We shouldn't root for workers to be exploited for poverty wages. We should want them to earn a living wage free of gov assistance, even if it means Jeff B earns a tiny bit less or you have to settle for less free 1 day shipping.
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Automating an Amazon warehouse might be a long way off yet because it involves solving some of the hardest problems in robotics. Getting a robot to pick up an arbitrarily shaped object, without damaging it, and packing it a box suitable for shipping is not easy.
The only places that have done it have resorted to packaging the items in standard packages for easier handling, but Amazon's business model doesn't allow for that. The most they have been able to do is to have robots bring the entire bin to a human
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I mean, the working conditions are shit. Literally people pissing in bottles and shitting in boxes because they cannot take time off of their computer driven schedule to go to the bathroom. The pace is beyond breakneck. And COVID is almost impossible to contain - something like 30% of Amazon employees have gotten it.
A union can just demand, in one voice, 10% more time to accomplish each task, or the ability to turn off the tasks being pushed for 5 minutes to visit the bathroom without the computer metrics
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And COVID is almost impossible to contain - something like 30% of Amazon employees have gotten it.
Amazon announced that around 20,000 [nbcnews.com] of it's US employees have tested positive or are assumed positive for COVID.
IIRC, Amazon has over 500,000 employees in the US.
Now I'm no good at math, but I don't think 20,000 ÷ 500,000 = 30%.
Reuters reports a figure of 1.44%, [reuters.com] which is less than in the US population in general. Where do you get "something like 30%"?
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I do not recall where I got the 30% number from. It may have been during earlier times when miscommunication was rampant, or was single worst outbreak. Until I recall, I'll withdraw that claim.
I do maintain that having breaks to piss is something a union could accomplish.
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I do maintain that having breaks to piss is something a union could accomplish.
100% agreed. Amazon should have been unionized long ago IMO. A guy in my condo who lost his job due to COVID has been working in an Amazon warehouse for the past month or so. While he says he likes it, he also said that he has to frequently run in the warehouse to keep up with things. There's something really really wrong with that at so many levels.
Land of the free... from social security (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Land of the free... from social security (Score:5, Interesting)
Um, you are free to join the union or not.
But in many states you are not free to refuse to pay union dues, after your place of work becomes a union shop. Not if you want to keep your job.
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Partial union dues. The union has to break down its expenditures for contract administration, bargaining, and grievance; the services they are legally required to provide to you even if you object; and only charge an agency fee for those. Unless you are a public employee (nationwide) or in a "right-to-work" state, in which case you pay nothing yet still get free-rider access to those services.
It's a bit like living in an HOA community, using the services, and then complaining that you want to opt out of HOA
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It's a bit like living in an HOA community, using the services, and then complaining that you want to opt out of HOA dues
It's like living in an unregulated neighbourhood, with your neighbours suddenly forming a HOA and asking to you join in, abide by the rules, or at least chip in for landscaping the common areas. And being evicted from your home if you refuse to pay those fees, because they want no "free riders".
I think unions are great, but no one should be forced to pay them if they didn't ask the union to negotiate on their behalf.
the workers, United, will never be defeated (Score:2)
can amazon just move the works to an staffing plac (Score:3)
can amazon just move the works to an staffing place to get out of this?
No (Score:2, Interesting)
Nope. For two reasons. First, a few years ago the National Labor Relations Board said no to that. Workers who work at Amazon, for Amazon, through a staffing agency are covered under the any union that represents workers employed directly by Amazon. Just because NRLB said so.
Secondly, I'm reading between the lines and guessing you're thinking of moving ALL or substantially all, of the workers to a staffing agency. Well the workers would simply say no, they wouldn't take an employment offer from the staffing
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unions have shift differentials
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"We don't believe this group represents the majority of our employees' views."
And if you're right, Rachael, they'll vote no, and things will go on as they have been. If they vote yes, then clearly your belief was wrong.
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Ah, so the same as it is right now for Amazon workers? Amazon warehouse workers already get paid the same based on years with the company. They just fire people who don't meet strict computer-monitored metrics. There's no real way to exceed them - they are insanely aspirational. In fact, they may use i
Carne Por la Machina (Score:5, Insightful)
When all you are is Carne Por la Machina, making untold riches for your masters, it's no wonder these people want to organize. It's the only way that average citizens have to gain even a small semblance of equal power with the folks that hold real power.
Best of luck to them; their fight will benefit everyone that matters.
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There is no shortage of things that need doing in the world. Unemployment is a failure of the economy, it does not happen because everyone in the world suddenly stopped wanting new shiny stuff.
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There is no shortage of things that need doing in the world.
Agreed. There will soon be no shortage of business owners who find managing machines far easier than managing those pain-in-the-ass humans. You know which companies are faring the best during this global pandemic? The ones with the fewest human workers. Human medical costs alone are enough to fund a dozen can-I-replace-you-with-a-kiosk-or-script studies.
Unemployment is a failure of the economy, it does not happen because everyone in the world suddenly stopped wanting new shiny stuff.
Ignorance is a common failure of humans, as hindsight is always 20/20. No doubt there will be no shortage of demand for new shiny stuff. There will sim
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There will not always be a job for every human who wants one. The economy is far from a perfect system.
However, practically everyone can do something that needs doing. If we cannot figure out how to match those who can do stuff with stuff that needs doing, then that is a failure of society that has nothing to do with automation.
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There will not always be a job for every human who wants one. The economy is far from a perfect system.
However, practically everyone can do something that needs doing. If we cannot figure out how to match those who can do stuff with stuff that needs doing, then that is a failure of society that has nothing to do with automation.
Finding purpose in life is very important. That I will agree with. The problem is we still define a persons worth and purpose, on their ability to be employed. In the future, we will be looking for humans to provide brainpower, not physical power.
Considering that, look around you. If social media is any indicator, we're rather fucked as a species going forward. Greeds answer for the unemployable, will be starvation and death for a while. Human transitions are painful. Just ask any Revolution througho
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There is no shortage of stuff that needs doing that low-skilled labour can do. Start by taking proper care of the elderly.
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But it's okay if the people who are good at being greedy, like Bezos, keep doing it?
You are one twisted individual.
I never said or even implied that the Disease of Greed that has infected us for thousands of years, is a fucking good thing. You are the twisted individual assuming that.
This is merely a reminder of an inevitability, and humans should start preparing for it far sooner than later.
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I hope the union organizers (Score:3)
"Commodity" workers (Score:1)
The issue is not whether Amazon can replace their warehouse workers with robots. It is whether they can replace the workers with any random Joe and Jane from the road. And everybody knows the answer to that.
We hear about people dying from exhaustion, those who survive need to pee in bottles to keep up with quotas. Now, we question "why" they want to unionize and have better protections?
It is not about the money, it is not about the robots, it is about basic value of human work and decency.
(And I am not a pr
Amazon literally hired Pinkerton agents (Score:2)
The way you know Unions work, that they raise wages and benefits, is that employers fight them tooth and nail. I don't understand why we're not all in a Union.
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In reality, Unions will fight tooth and nail for pay raises, not so much for benefits.
Allow me to explain why.
Union Dues are typically a percentage of a Union Workers pay. Thus, while the Union would like you to believe they are fighting for YOU, they are actually fighting for that pay increase themselves. ( If your pay goes up, so too does the amount the Union makes off of members dues )
They don't care too much about the fact your healthcare premiums are skyrocketing year after year because it's not mon
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You do know that union leaders are elected, right? So if someone wants to negotiate for more healthcare, they should run on that platform.
Bezos kind of defines vindictive (Score:1)
So, who knows, maybe a brute squad for worker re-education, social media character assassination, lawyers filing all sorts of law suits.
Safety, eh? (Score:1)
"With a union contract, we can form a worker safety committee, and negotiate the highest safety standards and protocols for our workplace."
I could make easy money betting that the first contract will demand higher pay. But unions always spout off that it's about 'safety'... but it never is.
Tomorrow's News (Score:2)
Amazon fires 1500 full and part-time workers for random workplace violations.
Totally unrelated to unionizing.
Really.
We swear !
Amazon needs a "union-only" checkbox (Score:2)
What if I wanted my order filled by union employees, and was willing to pay the difference?
I get it. Prime and "free shipping" is cool. But it's not really free. It's paid for by the difference in the value of the labor and what Amazon pays its workers.
I also pack and ship items frequently - even without specialized equipment, it takes me about 15 minutes to pack an order. However, had I a dedicated packing station, I could easily do it in 5 minutes or less. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised i
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Why Amazon - with it's virtual monopoly on online sales - can't seem to treat its workers better is beyond me.
It's not that they can't, it's that they don't want to. Why? Well some people are not just happy to shit on their fellow man for a buck, they take pride and pleasure in it.
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Well, for us, that $129 would be used up in the first few months of the year.
Maybe I'm an outlier, but we get packages from Amazon every week it seems. We're probably burning $20-30 per week in shipping charges, even with the discounted shipping.
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If the fair trade coffee is anything like the fair trade chocolate [youtube.com], half of it is harvested by child laborers up to their ankles in glyphosate in deforested hellscapes where militias guard every road in and out, extracting a toll from each load of bean.
Free market at work. (Score:2)
Corporations *hate* that.
It's almost like competition! *shudder*
Will this make deliveries suck less? (Score:3)
In the many years I've bought crap from Amazon, they always seem to really struggle with putting packages into parcel management systems.
There must be some physical challenge or difficult math involved with making deliveries.
I honestly wouldn't know. Whenever UPS or FedEx puts shit into them, the parcel door just seems to open right up for me after I enter the correct access code.
Best of luck on your uprising, I mean unionization. I'm sure the teamsters will be happy to have you. /shrug