Amazon’s Aggressive Anti-Union Tactics Revealed

I really don't understand why Amazon have to be cartoon villains about this. Like, I get both sides of the union argument in a vacuum, but when your CEO is literally the richest person in the world and you're raking in money hand over fist year after year, fear of your workers having the power to demand what would likely be only a small additional fraction of that wealth has nothing to do with reasonable self-preservation as a business. It's Exhibit A for every modern Marxist tract on the amorality of capitalism.

 

I worked at Walmart 6 years and we had are own training videos on unions. They would shut stores down if they unionized or even tried to. When you are the largest employer in the US and you have the ability to set the standard for what places pay why not do the right thing and pay a “living wage.”

 

Are Amazon officially more evil than Walmart? Seems like they're making a run for it

 

Fuck Bezos!

 

i think a not insignificant part of it is bezos' training as an engineer. a lot of amazon's success came out his ability - one that's an inherent skill in a lot of engineers and one that we're definitely trained to nurture in school - to be ruthlessly calculating, optimal, and a long-term thinker. it's one of my biggest frustrations with engineers, that we very frequently become so absorbed in our work from a raw process analysis standpoint that we fail or refuse to grasp ethical concerns of it, and silicon valley brand take the libertarian streak and tech/business optimism to literally inhumane levels - it's all about maximizing profit in unique and minute ways, such as the standardizing of packaging that often leaves small items overpackaged but in the long run saves Amazon processing time, money, and labor.

similarly, he's aware of what the job market, economy, and labor laws look like for someone who's not him. he's aware that he can burn through laborers who need to quit for their own health after two years with someone lining up right behind them, he's aware that union support as low right now and it's in his interest to lower it further, he's aware that cities will grovel for the glory of an Amazon HQ such that they'll give him tax breaks. it's all about maneuvering those to his best benefits. he's just a fucking ruthless, intelligent prick.

 

Gizmodo is making this out to be more sensational than it really is in my opinion. The "T.I.P.S." strategy has been around for decades and is generally viewed as good guidance for management teams to keep in mind in order to avoid behaviors that would put them and their company at legal risk when practicing union avoidance. I am not saying Amazon is a world class employer by any stretch of the imagination. I just wanted to point out that companies across the U.S. teach these things to help managers be more effective at their jobs and work with their employees on issues directly to avoid a third party coming into the mix and potentially making relations more difficult.

 

Nah it's just companies not wanting to pay their employers. Companies like "non-collective bargaining" better than collective bargaining for the exact same reason companies like anything else - it's cheaper. Collective bargaining leads to more power to workers leads to more money to workers leads to less for the board and the CEO. it really, truly is that simple

 

You’re arguing a different point than the one I made in my post.