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Amazon Workers Unionize!

Peacenik

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NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Workers at an Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) warehouse in New York City voted to form the first union at the second-largest U.S. private employer, a victory that adds to recent grassroots successes by labor activists pushing into new industries.

Employees at the online retailer's fulfillment center in the borough of Staten Island, known as JFK8, secured a majority by voting 2,654 to 2,131 in support of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), or about 55% in favor, according to a count released on Friday by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).


The vote represented a victory for U.S. organized labor and a milestone for labor advocates, who for years have considered Amazon's labor practices a threat to workers. Union organizer Christian Smalls, dressed all in Amazon Labor Union red, raised a hand in victory after the win, while ALU members popped champagne in celebration.
Amazon pushed workers too far, forced them to unionize

Amazon spent millions trying to prevent this, but failed.

Workers are feeling ever more empowered in America since management treated them with such disregard during the pandemic.

Organized workers are better able to negotiate good terms with employers.

The new Amazon Union is a good thing for labor!
 
Amazon spent millions trying to prevent this, but failed.

Workers are feeling ever more empowered in America since management treated them with such disregard during the pandemic.

Organized workers are better able to negotiate good terms with employers.

The new Amazon Union is a good thing for labor!
Welcome new Brothers and Sisters!
 
And if Bezos is smart, he closes that facility now and builds a new one in Jersey......

And his trucks can pay the tolls crossing the bridges

I am sure the mayor will love losing all those jobs and tax dollars
 
Amazon spent millions trying to prevent this, but failed.

Workers are feeling ever more empowered in America since management treated them with such disregard during the pandemic.

Organized workers are better able to negotiate good terms with employers.

The new Amazon Union is a good thing for labor!
Be careful what you wish for.
 
And if Bezos is smart, he closes that facility now and builds a new one in Jersey......

And his trucks can pay the tolls crossing the bridges

I am sure the mayor will love losing all those jobs and tax dollars
Bezos is very smart. And quite heartless. I would not be surprised at all if that warehouse closes down soon.

And if labor is worked up enough about it, such a closure would not go unanswered. What the form of that answer might be, nobody knows.
 
And if Bezos is smart, he closes that facility now and builds a new one in Jersey......

And his trucks can pay the tolls crossing the bridges

I am sure the mayor will love losing all those jobs and tax dollars


He can't do that.

That Amazon facility was just recently built and opened in 2017. I'm sure Bezos is still paying for the building.

It's also the largest Amazon facility in New York.

Bezos isn't stupid enough to just close that facility and build a new one in New Jersey. He would lose a ton of money.

The facility is unionized and there is absolutely nothing you or Bezos can do about it.

If you think that Bezos can and will do what you suggested you don't seem know much about business. If you think that closing that facility after spending millions on a brand new facility and the biggest one in the state of New York is a good business move just because the employees voted to go union, you would deserve the result of the extremely bad business choice you suggest above.
 
He can't do that.

That Amazon facility was just recently built and opened in 2017. I'm sure Bezos is still paying for the building.

It's also the largest Amazon facility in New York.

Bezos isn't stupid enough to just close that facility and build a new one in New Jersey. He would lose a ton of money.

The facility is unionized and there is absolutely nothing you or Bezos can do about it.

If you think that Bezos can and will do what you suggested you don't seem know much about business. If you think that closing that facility after spending millions on a brand new facility and the biggest one in the state of New York is a good business move just because the employees voted to go union, you would deserve the result of the extremely bad business choice you suggest above.
The hell you say

Of course he can.....the question is will he

Writing off the building is as a loss is easy....or selling it to another for another purpose

You think because the employees decided to go union, the company has zero say?

Think again....and yes, this tactic has been used before in other fields.....as people tried to unionize

And the companies broke them up before they could ever get going.....
 
So, let's imagine in a year or two's time Amazon is looking to expand its capacity in the US. Are they now more or less likely to invest in their unionized NY facility? Might other investment options be more attractive?
 
A question I've asked, and which has yet to receive an answer, is this:

What means, other than a union, is available to the individual worker to oppose the power of a corporation?

[Ed.: It should be noted that a corporation's responsibility to labor is defined by law. In states which are 'business friendly', the laws may not be all that generous toward labor. 'Right to work' laws are presented as an example.]

Regards, stay safe 'n well.
 
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Amazon spent millions trying to prevent this, but failed.

Workers are feeling ever more empowered in America since management treated them with such disregard during the pandemic.

Organized workers are better able to negotiate good terms with employers.

The new Amazon Union is a good thing for labor!

It will be interesting to see what the (new 8K member?) union’s demands are and what Amazon’s response to them is.
 
The hell you say

Of course he can.....the question is will he

Writing off the building is as a loss is easy....or selling it to another for another purpose

You think because the employees decided to go union, the company has zero say?

Think again....and yes, this tactic has been used before in other fields.....as people tried to unionize

And the companies broke them up before they could ever get going.....

Bezos just built that facility. It opened in 2017. He spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build it and put the proper equipment in it. It is the largest Amazon facility in the state of New York. It was specially built to handle large amounts of packages.

Bezos is probably still paying a mortgage on that building.

Bezos isn't going to spend all that time and money to just abandon it then turn around and do it all over again in a different state.

Bezos didn't become one of the richest men in the world with Amazon one of the largest companies in the world by abandoning large new state of the art facilities after building them. He would lose a ton of money.

If you think that's a good idea then you show to me you never learned how to run a business and never owned one.

I did learn how to run a business in college. I did own a business and was so extremely successful I was able to retire when I was 54 years old with a life long stream of money coming from that business for the rest of my life.

No, Bezos isn't going to do what you suggested. He's not stupid. He won't just walk away from such a large investment leaving his business in the NY area without a facility to process packages and orders.

Watch as Bezos doesn't do what you suggested.
 
Okay, I'll jump back in here with something more substantial than a shot on Bezos.

What does everyone think will happen when this new union tries to bargain for pay rates and benefits entirely out of sync with other Amazon locations and operations? Does everyone think this will really make a dent in how Bezos runs that company?
 
So, let's imagine in a year or two's time Amazon is looking to expand its capacity in the US. Are they now more or less likely to invest in their unionized NY facility? Might other investment options be more attractive?


They don't need to. The facility was just built and opened in 2017.

It's the largest facility in New York State with state of the art equipment in it.

By the time that facility will need new investment in it, the union will have been there for years and it will be a non issue by then.
 
A question I've asked, and which has yet to receive an answer, is this:

What means, other than a union, is available to the individual worker to oppose the power of a corporation?

Regards, stay safe 'n well.

Their value to the company and offers from other companies.

The problem is no education/no skill jobs most workers don't want to do what it takes to expand their value as an employee
 
He can't do that.

That Amazon facility was just recently built and opened in 2017. I'm sure Bezos is still paying for the building.

It's also the largest Amazon facility in New York.

Bezos isn't stupid enough to just close that facility and build a new one in New Jersey. He would lose a ton of money.

The facility is unionized and there is absolutely nothing you or Bezos can do about it.

If you think that Bezos can and will do what you suggested you don't seem know much about business. If you think that closing that facility after spending millions on a brand new facility and the biggest one in the state of New York is a good business move just because the employees voted to go union, you would deserve the result of the extremely bad business choice you suggest above.

Bezos is adamantly opposed to having his workforce unionized. He has already spent millions on a disinformation campaign designed to convince those workers to vote against the union. He could have simply improved the lot for workers with that money instead. He could have given them raises, more breaks, more consideration for personal concerns, etc. But no. He spent that money fighting the union effort instead. I would totally not put it past him to close that warehouse, eat the loss, and lay off all those workers.

You don't tell rich and powerful men like Bezos what to do. They have the money, they have the power. They think they can do anything they darn well please. And who is to stop them?
 
So, let's imagine in a year or two's time Amazon is looking to expand its capacity in the US. Are they now more or less likely to invest in their unionized NY facility? Might other investment options be more attractive?
You're right. We should remove all labor protection laws and bring back child labor and sweatshops so companies stop offshoring. That will definitely be a good thing for working Americans.
 
And this would be, as the OP states, "a good thing for labor?"
No, it would not be a good thing for those workers. But if it serves to motivate more workers to join and form unions then that would be a good thing for labor.
 
Bezos just built that facility. It opened in 2017. He spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build it and put the proper equipment in it. It is the largest Amazon facility in the state of New York. It was specially built to handle large amounts of packages.

Bezos is probably still paying a mortgage on that building.

Bezos isn't going to spend all that time and money to just abandon it then turn around and do it all over again in a different state.

Bezos didn't become one of the richest men in the world with Amazon one of the largest companies in the world by abandoning large new state of the art facilities after building them. He would lose a ton of money.

If you think that's a good idea then you show to me you never learned how to run a business and never owned one.

I did learn how to run a business in college. I did own a business and was so extremely successful I was able to retire when I was 54 years old with a life long stream of money coming from that business for the rest of my life.

No, Bezos isn't going to do what you suggested. He's not stupid. He won't just walk away from such a large investment leaving his business in the NY area without a facility to process packages and orders.

Watch as Bezos doesn't do what you suggested.

A possibility would be to tack on a ‘union surcharge’ to be paid by any Amazon customers served by that facility. This could work much like the tiny print disclaimers “prices may vary in AK and HI” seen in some TV ads.
 
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The hell you say

Of course he can.....the question is will he

Writing off the building is as a loss is easy....or selling it to another for another purpose

You think because the employees decided to go union, the company has zero say?

Think again....and yes, this tactic has been used before in other fields.....as people tried to unionize

And the companies broke them up before they could ever get going.....

Bezos doesn't even have to sell the facility. All he has to do is simply shut down operations there, and move them somewhere else. The building could remain his. It could sit empty for a while. A year or two. Then he decides to begin operations there again. Hire all new workers. And the clock is reset. All the new hires are non-union. Presto. The rich and powerful guy gets his way. The workers get screwed.

We shall see what happens.
 
Their value to the company and offers from other companies.

The problem is no education/no skill jobs most workers don't want to do what it takes to expand their value as an employee

Hi, Crovax!

A worker's value to a company is simply that of the wage which would be paid to a new hire capable of doing the job. In times of high unemployment, that value may not be particularly great.

Regards, stay safe 'n well.
 
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