Amazon Alabama Union Vote Redo

[togor]

NLRB has decided that Amazon cheated in the first vote, so another to be held. This could be construed as an official wanting revotes until the union is in. Or it could be on the mark that Amazon stacked the deck through coercion.

A buddy once observed that companies that get unions usually deserve them. Does Amazon fit that bill? They might. Their Euro warehouses have unions and life goes on.

What I'd really like to see is members of "the squad" head to Bessemer, AL, hostile territory perhaps, and put their progressive cred on the line by helping with the unionization drive. So far though these gals have better things to do. And that goes to my general observation that the current progressive movement lacks the grit of its predecessor a century ago. These are bourgeois progressives today.

[blackhawknj]

Bourgeois progressives? AKA "parlor pinks" and "limousine liberals."

[togor]

Bourgeois progressives? AKA "parlor pinks" and "limousine liberals."

Yes, exactly!!

[Mike in NC]

Yes, Bessemer, AL would be an interesting for the squad to show up. Emmit King the former Olympic sprinter was just killed in Bessemer in a shootout when he was slow on the draw. https://nypost.com/2021/11/30/former...ot-in-alabama/

Maybe not too different than parts of New York City or Detroit.

[lyman]

interesting,

from NPR

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/29/1022384731/amazon-warehouse-workers-get-to-re-do-their-union-vote-in-alabama

Previously, the NLRB's hearing shed new light on Amazon's anti-union campaign during the Bessemer election. One warehouse staffer testified that during mandatory meetings at the facility, managers said the fulfillment center could shut down if the staff voted to unionize. Other workers said they were told that the union would waste their dues on fancy vacations and cars.

Amazon has a right to shut down and move, and they might,

Winn Dixie was that way, we were told flat out if we unionized, they would close,
but then again, we were paid better than the union stores,,


the second part, about the waste of dues, is also very correct,
the UFCW union is famous for that,
crappy union boss type management, each rep gets a new car and clothing as needed,
meanwhile the benny's sucked for the rank and file, unless you were a shop steward, then they would give you a shirt or jacket,
maybe buy your lunch once in a while,

[kj47]

Same for the company I worked for. Paid us good wages but told us if we unionised they would start at ground zero(thier words). Paid us triple time for working a holiday It worked.

[togor]

On the other hand UPS drivers seem happy with their union, compared to Amazon drivers, in my driveway. Both companies are operating safely in the black.

Again, companies that get unions, probably deserve them. And if Amazon is going to threaten to strand assets every time an organizing drive happens, they may in fact be one of those companies. We're not there so we don't know.

[togor]

FedEx is non-union, right? Didn't they hire a driver who dumped some loads in an Alabama ditch?

Sometimes unions get the employer a better grade of worker.

[lyman]

FedEx is non-union, right? Didn't they hire a driver who dumped some loads in an Alabama ditch?

Sometimes unions get the employer a better grade of worker.

not always, often they protect the turd that needed to go,


Fedup is employee (no idea if union) for Express and contractor for ground,

been that way for years

[togor]

Nobody said "always"

Employers can be EXCESSIVELY greedy, employees can be EXCESSIVELY lazy. Labor-management contracts are a way to regulate both tendencies, and SOMETIMES that regulation is just what the doctor ordered.

In some parts of the country, unionized labor represents another power structure that the entrenched local culture fears.

[Major Tom]

UAW union stands for united addled workers!

[togor]

Apparently the nutso combination of cameras + AI in the warehouses is driving it. Workers treated like robots, not people.

This is a classic complaint.

Count me among those who have concluded that Amazon deserves a union in the US. I didn't go there straight away but everything points to it, including the company's own arguments against it.

[lyman]

warehouse work is production and time driven,
always has been,

it's fast paced and on time matters,

one guy I worked for years ago was moved to the Warehouse side,
he was in charge of the employees for the perishable side of the regional whse,

it was a revolving door, he would be lucky to get 4 out of 10 past the drug test and background checks,
then end up with only 2 after a few weeks,

constantly hiring,

perishable side was produce, dairy, frozen, and meat,
from a 3 or 4 ib case of yogurt to a 140 lb box of meat,

freezers running 0 degrees,


constant turnover

[togor]

There's moving pallets of bananas, and filling Mr. Lyman's Amazon order.

Similarities, but differences too.

The Big Brother AI on the cameras strikes me as a subject worthy of collective bargaining.

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But I very much doubt they get a union in Alabama. NY or NJ maybe, but not AL.

[lyman]

There's moving pallets of bananas, and filling Mr. Lyman's Amazon order.

Similarities, but differences too.

The Big Brother AI on the cameras strikes me as a subject worthy of collective bargaining.

- - - Updated - - -

But I very much doubt they get a union in Alabama. NY or NJ maybe, but not AL.

warehousing is warehousing,

difference would be boxed orders for delivery vs pallets on a tractor trailer,

and a lot of automation on that shipping line