Amazon's Anti-Union Blitz Stalks Alabama Warehouse Workers Everywhere, Even the Bathroom (washingtonpost.com) 118
Some workers in Amazon's Bessemer, Ala., warehouse complain that the company's aggressive performance expectations leave them little time to take bathroom breaks. From a report: When they do get there, they face messaging from Amazon pressing its case against unionization, imploring them to vote against it when mail-in balloting begins Feb. 8. "Where will your dues go?" reads a flier posted on the door inside a bathroom stall. "They got right in your face when you're using the stall," said Darryl Richardson, a worker at the warehouse who supports the union. Another pro-union worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said of Amazon's toilet reading: "I feel like I'm getting harassed." The stakes couldn't be higher for Amazon, which is fighting the biggest labor battle in its history on U.S. soil. Next Monday, the National Labor Relations Board will mail ballots to 5,805 workers at the facility near Birmingham, who will then have seven weeks to decide whether they want the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union to represent them. If they vote yes, they would be the first Amazon warehouse in the United States to unionize.
Surprising? (Score:3, Insightful)
So a pro-union employee objects to anti-union flyers...and this is news? What did you expect? Amazon doesn't want unions. If the pro-union people are going to proselytize, Amazon is going to do the same. This is all expected and part of the game.
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Below that on the flyer I'd write "maybe toward lobbying for more time for bathroom breaks?"
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I think these Pro-Union employees expect Amazon to say. "Oh Goody, we want an outsize organization who doesn't care about the businesses, to get up an mess with our HR system, business processes, and make every budgeting quarter exponentially more difficult!"
The American Union system is in serious need for reform and restructuring, currently the only group that wins when they get unionized is the Union organization itself.
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No. The organization isn't the only winner. The employees win too. .
Ask the former Stella D'oro and Hostess employees how the unions worked out for them.
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So instead of losing they unionised and lost.
That doesn't sound like a win to me.
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"The stakes couldn't be higher for Amazon"? (Score:5, Interesting)
The stakes for Amazon are pretty low. Amazon's not going anywhere. It's the stakes for their workers which are very high.
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Not necessarily, GP could just be pointing out that whether they unionize or not, that Amazon warehouse isn't going anywhere which is a very pro-union stance.
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That'll happen as soon as possible anyway. Once a robot can do the job, it will very quickly be able to do the job considerably better and cheaper than a human. That's the entire point of automation, and Amazon has always been very aggressive about automating as much as they can.
Those warehouse jobs ARE going away just as soon as Amazon can automate them. The only difference a union will make is to profit margins in the meantime.
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I'm just stating a fact, that Amazon is extremely powerful compared to its workers and will thrive either way. The workers, on the other hand, could get a union, which would be a huge deal for them, or they could get de-facto fired over thinking about it, which would also be a huge deal.
Where did you get from that that I approve of this situation?
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the technology to do so already pretty much exists
Unless you are being extremely generous with "pretty much", that isn't really true. Amazon and several others have shown no reluctance to replace human workers with robots but they still have very large human workforces. In some Amazon warehouses the bottleneck is their ability to attract human workers. Amazon's entire business rests on flowing large quantities of products through their operations and if they could increase that with tech right now today they would.
As a demonstration of their commitment
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Amazon employs about 800,000 humans.
Right now. That was my point - Amazon can, and likely will find a way to shed some of that workforce as unionization efforts pick up.
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The increased costs of dealing with a union might make them invest more in replacement tech because it would shorten the payback.
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They're already going to replace the workers with tech. This **might** move the test site for whatever picker robot they try to Alabama (although they'll probably still stay at the Renton or Boston sites since it's closer to the labs.) They make no secret that they want a fully-automated warehouse operation, even to the workers. Some of the people in their robotics division came from the Fulfillment Centers. They tell workers when they start that warehouse work is a dead end, and will supply them traini
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Anything they can automate they already have or it's in the backlog.
Of course you're here to spread FUD so. I dunno try harder you're bad at your job.
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Anything they can automate they already have or it's in the backlog.
Of course you're here to spread FUD so. I dunno try harder you're bad at your job.
I guess I don't feel bad about failing at something I wasn't trying to do. But hey, believe what you want. Time will tell.
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Hahahahaha. Amazon makes Walmart look like a pro-employee company. They have already automated every position they possibly can and are working on automating the rest, union or not. You didn't think those delivery drones were for the customer's benefit did
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Hahahahaha. Amazon makes Walmart look like a pro-employee company. They have already automated every position they possibly can and are working on automating the rest, union or not. You didn't think those delivery drones were for the customer's benefit did you?
Exactly my point.
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I think the big problem is that it's an all or nothing proposition. If some people want to join a union to represent them or collectively bargain on their behalf, let them. If some other workers d
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Typically when a company wants to avoid dealing with a union, they just close the entire location.
Amazon is not your typical company driven by a bunch of MBAs with no real-world experience, it's the most incredibly data-driven place that I've ever worked. (I work in Corporate Security, not the FCs.) This is not Henry Ford, who closed a factory because the town's mayor was insufficiently deferential, it's Jeff Bezos (and now Andrew Jassy). That's a brand new warehouse, there is no demand that the union could realistically make that would cost them more over the next five years than that site just cost
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"If some people want to join a union to represent them or collectively bargain on their behalf, let them. If some other workers don't trust it or don't think it's good value for their money, let them stay out. "
Which means you've never worked for a union.
As someone from the Telecommunications Union I can tell you that is not how it works, you do not get a choice to not join it's mandatory in taking the job end of story.
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The stakes for Amazon are pretty low. Amazon's not going anywhere. It's the stakes for their workers which are very high.
No, the stakes for the union are high. The workers are unlikely to get anything of value, which is unfortunate.
When I was at Indiana University years ago AFSCME came in to "represent" the clerical workers. Understand that the pay was okay but the benefits were astronomical at the university. We started with 5 weeks paid vacation plus 10 holidays and a few "personal days". We got 7 weeks/year paid off time. Plus insurance, the university put the equivalent of 10% of our pay into our 401k (or 403b, I sup
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If you don't like the Amazon platform, move to a different platform, or build your own. That is what everyone on /. Twitter and Reddit are saying.
Seniority (Score:3, Interesting)
This is often a good tradeoff because collective bargaining can be powerful, but ask yourself, are Amazon warehouses expected to keep growing in employment, or do you expect there to be some rounds of layoffs in the future? Does your seniority cut it? For half the current workers the answer, though subjective, would be "no."
Those union dues will go to fund the enforcement of an ordering to layoffs based on seniority and if thats not you then you are funding your own demise.
Re: Seniority (Score:3)
As opposed to rockefesllerian slave drivers like Amazon. Where it *only* comes to you being pushed around at the bottom . ... and the only way you'll ever get to the top, is by kicking those below you like an Uncle Tom, or by being pushed out of a high-rise, in the traditional gangbuster style.
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Actually there is a career path upwards in Amazon, you just have to prove to those above you that you're interested in learning and working hard. I've worked with several people who have come out of the FCs, starting as contractors and becoming blue badge employees because they've educated themselves and shown a drive to succeed. I've never worked anywhere quite like it.
Re: Seniority (Score:5, Informative)
I have neighbors who recently worked at an Amazon warehouse. Amazon uses algorithms to set your performance metrics based on a rolling national average. Letâ(TM)s say your job is to unpack boxes. The algorithm decides that you have to unpack 100 items per hour, but the trucks are slow because the trailer yard is backed up, so you can only unpack 75. Too bad; the algorithm flags you as underperforming even though itâ(TM)s not your fault. Now letâ(TM)s say your job is to put items in bins. The algorithm decided youâ(TM)ve got to put away 100 items in an hour, but the warehouse is full so you can only put away 90. The algorithm flags you as underperforming, and youâ(TM)re either put on an improvement plan or fired. On top of this, youâ(TM)re standing on an extra hard concrete floor and have a short scheduled lunch and two short scheduled bathroom breaks. People have soiled their pants at the workstations and injuries requiring an ambulance are common. It sounds like a modern day sweat shop. I think more people should work at one for a time just to experience it for themselves.
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However the big difference from now vs 100 years ago. Is if you don't like working for Amazon, you can get a job somewhere else. If the job is truly so bad, then Amazon will have a problem with staffing and keeping up operation, thus the problem will be on them to figure out why they cannot keep their unit filled. However, the individual would be working for a job perhaps in the next town over that they like.
When Unions started in America, people were mostly stuck in the factory town, without the abili
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>> However the big difference from now vs 100 years ago. Is if you don't like working for Amazon, you can get a job somewhere else.
This becomes less and less true every day. The rampant (and growing) inequity in this country means the majority of people have the choice of: working a high-risk job, or starving. The pandemic has made this even worse, and it's dangerously naive to think otherwise.
Unions are more necessary than ever protect to worker interests. Otherwise, the future of work is exactly the
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One thing that I don't think is mentioned: Most floor workers work for companies contracted to Amazon, but not for Amazon directly.
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I hear what you're saying, but the problem isn't Amazon, the problem is that Americans have convinced themselves for decades that billionaires know what's best for them and that if they just vote to support tax breaks and such for those billionaires then somehow they'll also become rich one day.
As such Americans have always been vehemently against things like workers rights and so America has appalling workers rights compared to the rest of the developed world is a reuslt.
Why do I bring this up here? Becaus
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You just described a systemic problem at Amazon. I worked for them in I.T. support and before a full year was up, I split and got a far better job elsewhere.
The company has a fixation on "metrics", as though you can solve all problems just by generating enough charts, spreadsheets and reports.
The thousands of employees manning their help desk are in the same situation as warehouse packers. They may be giving their all to help every single person who calls in to fix their computer issues. But things like
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This is exactly what killed my performance at my previous warehouse job. They implemented a voice-controlled computer system to direct our movements and it worked like garbage and destroyed everyone's numbers. The company insisted it was our fault (because we were all luddites were making the system fail) and handed out "corrective" measures accordingly. I was told to improve my performance within 2 weeks or I'd get the boot. Instead, I handed in a 3-week notice and then quit.
At the time I left, the com
Re: Seniority (Score:5, Interesting)
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I can say from experience; Amazon needs unions. I worked there as an SDE and expressed sympathy for unions(at other companies, not Amazon) and the very next day I was on the pipeline to firing. I left before that happened, but those shitbags are *terrified* they're going to lose power to their employees.
Amazon is terrified the unions will ruin their competitiveness just like they've ruined Detroit for making cars and trucks. There was a time when unions were a good thing, helping counterbalance the overbearing sweatshops of turn-of-the-century industry. Today, unions are all about protecting seniority, greasing politicians, or becoming politicians. Union members are merely swapping one master for another. Neither has the worker's best interests in mind.
Re: Seniority (Score:5, Insightful)
Sorry, but Detroit was ruined by the MBAs first, the unions were someone lower in the pecking order to blame. Did the unions design the Vega, the Gremlin or the Pinto? No. Did the unions send people to scrapyards (including my uncle) to find what parts were not wearing out by 100,000 miles so they could instruct the supplier to lower their quality? No. Did the unions ignore Toyota's and Volkswagen's "Million Mile Club" of happy vehicle owners who could attest to the longevity and repairability of their vehicles? No.
I grew up in Michigan and had relatives in the car factories. The unions were excessive in their demands, but the executives are the ones who destroyed the car companies.
Re: Seniority (Score:5, Insightful)
I can understand that fear. It sounds like the UK unions in the '70s, where they had overwhelming power, and could shut down entire companies without much actual reason.
However, the worst of that was curtailed, and they've been on a much more balanced footing these days. Yes, there are the political wings of the Unions where they really do want to be politicians, but there are a lot of very skilled and experienced people that provide invaluable support where it's really needed, and in a very balanced way.
I never thought I'd be in a union, way back. However, for many reasons, I was once persuaded to join one. The experience of one, when you get to see more of the 'inside' is quite interesting. I've been at many a meeting on policy with Union reps attending. By and large, they have a very balanced take on things, and I treat them as a way to improve the chances of detecting and remedying flaws before something gets to see the light of day (a good Union rep can be fantastic at picking up ramifications of seemingly simple things and explaining how there are predictable issues that are likely to arise from it). I consider them an essential at the table for doing anything serious at the policy layer now.
I've also had to make use of their services when a particularly nasty person arrived in top role. The Unions didn't have a magic wand, but knew exactly which policy and procedure to go to in order to track this, and raise it with HR (and co-ordinated the various people who were raising similar complaints, which otherwise wouldn't have been grouped), so that the process was optimised.
Amazon, from what I perceive at least, seems to enjoy the more darwinian evolution of the company. However, natural selection doesn't exist without an ecosystem, and a balanced equilibrium. That doesn't happen in a direct line of seniority with no real external competition.
It'd almost be in Amazon's long term interest to nurture creation of an efficient Union. One that does give the workers a voice, with a set of restrictions that prevent it arbitrarily calling for company shutdowns over perceived rather than actual problems.
This presents a "predator" type role outside the regular company advancement structure that will ensure that people who get into those roles are the ones who really are good at it (rather than just being good at brown nosing and politics).
Re: Seniority (Score:4, Insightful)
Amazon is terrified the unions will ruin their competitiveness just like they've ruined Detroit for making cars and trucks.
If VW, PSA and other European car manufacturers can deal with unions and remain competitive then so can US companies. The American car industry were responsible for their own decline and the decision to move away from Detroit, Detroit's problem was that they wedded themselves to a single industry and didn't use the wealth that came with that to persuade other industries and diversify.
The reason the US industry left Detroit was that they got out competed when they didn't modernise, automate and innovate like European and Japanese automakers. This resulted in a lot of consolidation and job losses as the combined companies were both in Detroit. Also the US had gotten a lot richer than its nearest neighbours and the car companies chose to stick with a manual labour intensive process and hopped the fence to Mexico and Canada, Japanese car companies hit the same issue but chose to automate early instead. There was job losses, but less than if the factory left the country altogether.
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An instigator got fired ... shocking.
Re: Seniority (Score:1)
If you got any choice, don't work for Amazon. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's like working for Adolf Rockefeller.
And you will just a much be treated as a collaborator.
If you got no choice, use the old counterterrorist stategies: Be a mole, be divisive, be an agent provocateur, until they do something stupid, like this example here, and start infighting themselves to a breakup.
Remember: They got no conscience. They are psychopaths. They will always go one step more evil than what you're countering. So be prepared. And *be a team*. Being social humans is the key advantage we got over them. This is where they try to attack. This is where they shall be provoked to go to far, and fall. Be the foot they'll fall over.
Re:If you got any choice, don't work for Amazon. (Score:5, Informative)
Far from being psychopaths, managers that go a long with the kind of shit Amazon does to its workers are in fact almost the complete opposite: they're *conformists*. Most people will go along with shit like Amazon does to its employees if other people around them seem to be OK with it. People aren't afraid of being *evil*; they're afraid of being *abnormal*.
That's why control of the perception of "normality" is so important. If people think it's normal to dress up in sheets and burn a cross on their neighbor's lawn, a surprising number of people will do it. If they think it's normal to accept bribes, they'll do it.
As with any other human institution, unions are not perfect and sometimes fail badly; but it's very important to some people to maintain the feeling that supporting a union is *deviant*. That means its important that people don't understand that the most economically successful countries in the world are generally highly unionized. The following countries have at least twice the rate of union membership than the US (13%): Germany (26%), UK (29%), Canada (30%), Italy (35%), Austria (37%), Ireland (45%), Belgium (53%), Norway (57%) and Denmark (76%). The US rate of 13% is relatively high on a global scale; it's roughly comparable to France (9%). If you go much lower into the single digits you find yourself in countries you don't want to be compared with: Bengladesh, Thailand, Congo, Myanmar.
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I'm sure your a hit at team building meetings - if you've even had an actual job that is.
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And you will just a much be treated as a collaborator.
You will likely find that there are more useful, productive human beings than there are left-wing, animalistic "gimme people" who don't want to produce in a genuinely free market, but instead wish to use violence to take what others have instead. You also will find that they are much better prepared for a conflict, should it ever come to that, than the lefties. So you may want to rethink those threats.
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Backfires (Score:5, Interesting)
Seems like a good way to backfire on your messaging if your employees are having a hard time even finding time to use the bathroom, you put anti-union ads in the bathroom stalls, and the union promises things like guaranteed time for bathroom breaks.
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I guess it gives the company time to "clean" the bathrooms.
If your shop gets organized, you had it coming (Score:5, Insightful)
Do right by your people, and they'll follow you to Hell and back. Abuse them, and they'll push back. No one bothers with unions if they're getting a square deal without them.
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^^ This ^^
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I'll guarantee that the Fulfillment Center's management is getting a serious grilling as to why employees in one of the most notorious anti-union states are trying to unionize. I'll be **very** surprised if most of the upper level of that FC aren't canned before the vote.
Maybe spend the money (Score:5, Insightful)
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They're already getting the best non-Teamsters pay of any warehouse operation in the state, $15/hr is a frack of a lot more than almost any other low-skill job in Alabama will pay. I don't think that the disagreement is about salaries.
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$15/hour is pretty fucking good pay for doing shit work that is only *barely* above that of a trained monkey. Literally, the moment - and it's close - that a robot can do it, poof, you'll be out of a job. The more $ you demand, the more you incentivize the company to replace you.
If you're working for Amazon as a drone, you are either
- nearly unemployable, or
- you've made some colossally shitty choices
Either way, you shouldn't really be surprised that your career options are foreclosed.
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the moment - and it's close - that a robot can do it, poof, you'll be out of a job.
They don't hide that from workers, they tell them right out that warehouse work is a dead end job and they offer free training to move into a different career. Quite a few of the people who service or design their robots used to work the floor.
Keep them focused on their labor! (Score:1)
Say what? (Score:2, Redundant)
Where will your dues go?" reads a flier posted on the door inside a bathroom stall. "They got right in your face when you're using the stall," said Darryl Richardson, a worker at the warehouse who supports the union. Another pro-union worker who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution said of Amazon's toilet reading: "I feel like I'm getting harassed."
Oh, noes! Speech!
Other funny anti-union propaganda (Score:2)
"Is your washroom breeding Bolsheviks?"
https://thesocietypages.org/so... [thesocietypages.org]
"The Trouble With Women"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
"“We have the right to educate you,” the Iron Mountain manager lectured his employees. “And we’re going to exercise that right.”"
https://soundcloud.com/organiz... [soundcloud.com]
"Think Hard Before You Sign"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
https://www.theguardian.com/su... [theguardian.com]
"Union Dues Are Expensive"
https://twitter.com/EoinHiggin... [twitter.com]
Interesting Timing (Score:2)
It's interesting to note that Bezos announced he will be stepping down as CEO.
" Jeff Bezos said Tuesday that he will step down as chief executive of Amazon, leaving the helm of the company he founded 27 years ago.
Bezos will transition to the role of executive chair in the third quarter of this year, which starts July 1, the company said. Andy Jassy, the chief executive of Amazon Web Services, will take over as CEO of Amazon. "
This is a man who REALLY doesn't want to have to deal with Unions :P
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Maybe he's just at the point that "he got his" and has enough that he'll never have to leave his yacht for the rest of his life.
High Drama (Score:2)
If peoples' chief complaint is that they saw the other side's ad, I think this may be a historical record for lowest-intensity "conflict."
Wait until Bezos sees a pro-union ad and the shock makes him accidentally type 5:55 instead of 55 seconds into the microwave, turning his frozen burrito into lava.
And ... (Score:2, Interesting)
"If they vote yes, they would be the first Amazon warehouse in the United States to unionize."
and
They'll either be the first Amazon warehouse to deploy robotics, or simply, close.
You're drones. You do a shitty, no-skill, replaceable job. Sorry those life-plans apparently didn't work out...but whinging that you should be paid $50k/year isn't going to magically make you WORTH $50k a year. Even if you get it, you will be on a fast-track to be replaced by a different facility, different workers, or robots.
Fo
"I feel like I'm being harassed" (Score:5, Insightful)
Have we become so soft as a people that simply having a sign up now feels like "harassment?" Sheesh.
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Have we become so soft as a people that simply having a sign up now feels like "harassment?" Sheesh.
Yeah, especially when in days of yore many workers DIED trying to unionize....
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I hate big companies (Score:2)
but this is unionist propaganda, who cares if you see a poster in the bathroom? You don't have to read it. If anything it lets people know that amazon is scared. But do yourself a favor, don't use amazon at all, support other businesses.
There is a markup on most items on amazon, if you shop around you'll find better prices and many retailers are just as good on shipping, don't use amazon and spread the word. Don't get hooked on the drug of convenience
Problem with unions (Score:2)
Here's the problem with unions, in a nutshell.
In my first summer job, at a large famous electronics company, a light bulb burned out, and I couldn't do my work without it. I asked a co-worker where the bulbs are kept, so I could replace it. His response: "Noooo, don't even think about it. We will get a grievance from the union, and there will be hell to pay."
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Not being able to change bulbs might seem stupid, yes, but it's the kind of stupidity that's provoked by someone (in this case, employer) spoiling it for everyone - and by spoiling it, I mean forcing people to regularly do things which have nothing to do with their job description to save on people, sometimes in breach of regulations, and
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Flyers? (gasp!) (Score:2)
This is where a union makes sense.... (Score:2)
I'm typically rather anti-union, truth be told, I believe that in any scenario where the work you do requires special skills or talent, you can do better for yourself by negotiating the value of your skills on your own. If your employer won't give you what you're worth, go out on your own and work for yourself or do a job search to try to find a better arrangement. Unions are always an option, but a collective asking some appointed spokespeople to argue for all of you as one means you're going to get a co
Consult the Oracle! (Score:2)
Re: Unions are like ogres (Score:5, Insightful)
Except they'll be YOUR lawyers. Instead of your sworn enemy's lawyere. :)
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This. Anyone that believes a union is there for the workers is probably a millennialor younger with no real work experience.
If you really think the company you are working for is the enemy leave.
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Bullshit. And are you going to try to tell me that with every company pushing how the employees should be loyal to the company, that ANY OF THEM have anything like loyalty to the employees, rather than to ROI?
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On to the topic at hand though, the point of a union is to provide an organization with enough leve
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No they are the Unions Lawyers, not yours.
The Lawyers will be working for the interest of the Union. Not your interest. If they find that if they fire you from your job, so they can hire 10 more union paying members your job is going to be gone, where ironically the company (who you are calling your sworn enemy) may try to negotiate to keep your job, if they deem you personally valuable to the organization.
The Union may put you on an unpaid strike for a month to negotiate a 5% increase in your pay. Where
Re: Unions are like ogres (Score:5, Informative)
I have had a few union jobs in my life, the most recent was the Teamsters when I worked as a loader at UPS while I went to school (which was a great job by the way). I always felt that the union stewards had my back in all disputes and I saw that workers' jobs were very secure (maybe too secure sometimes). I never saw a union worker lose their job unless their behavior was egregious (not showing up for a week straight without notice or drug use) and the benefits for part time work were better than any plan I have ever had since (100% coverage for medical, dental and vision, no drug co-pays).
My experience with unions have always been positive.
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Good story bro.
Fact check (Score:2, Insightful)
The Union may put you on an unpaid strike....
No. They don't. The membership decides that, not the union executive. Just because lying (didn't) work for trump, doesn't mean lying will work here.
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No. They don't. The membership decides that, not the union executive. Just because lying (didn't) work for trump, doesn't mean lying will work here.
In a way. During my five years in PACE/USW, I never saw a single vote not go the way the union leaders of my plant wanted. Before any vote the stewards made the rounds and made very agressive sales pitches one way or the other. It was interesting to watch unions members vociferously arguing one position flop to be equally passionate about their new position overnight after such a visit.
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Just because lying (didn't) work for trump, doesn't mean lying will work here.
The Bandwagon Jumping judges scores are in:
9-8-7 for a total of 25.
Not a bad Bandwagon Jump. Not bad at all.
Points were taken off for cowardice and lack of originality. Popular sentiment doesn’t need the protection of AC, you’re likely just a really scared off mis-speaking and having them turn on you, which is valid to an extent. You’ll go under the bus if they sense blood in the water. Cause they care abo
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Ok, you motherfucking asshole, let's talk REALITY.
Unlike you and your buddies, unlike ANY media, I did research, which is something you wouldn't know how to do it if you fell on your head.
As of around 2012 or 2013, according to the IRS, there were about 6600 "labor organizations" - not anywhere near all are unions. They don't *have* to report, but almost all do.
The ENTIRE NET WORTH, including strike funds (untouchable), health funds, and actual buildings, like union halls, was $26B, total.
Now let that sink
Re:unions (Score:5, Insightful)
Horseshit. When my dad helped unionize the iron foundry where he worked people were regularly losing eyes, fingers and hands because the company wouldn't cough up for safety equipment. The union in his shop quite literally saved lives.
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Was this more than 30 years ago? What decade did this happen?
And what part of the world? And what part of the country?
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Northern Michigan in the 1960s, not that it makes any difference. Do you know why workers compensation, OSHA, child labor laws, weekends, vacations, minimum wage, pensions, Social Security and the 40 hour work week exist? Unions, and the people who fought and died for the right to be safe in their work place. If you want to go back to the glorious days of the Victorian Era go ahead and crap all over the unions, once they're gone you'll find out how well employers will treat people when there's no one in
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Oh, since no law can ever be repealed or weakened I suppose you're right. /sarcasm
I wonder what it's like to have lived such a sheltered and uninformed life that you seem to have had. Sounds boring, actually.
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There's good and bad to unions.
I'm in a union, they generally are pretty good about salary negotiations and not going overboard. I probably make a bit more than I would if non union.
However- they often send union reps with no tech experience ( janitor shop stewards, for example) to technical meetings to ask about why someone needs to be in the data center overnight when there is a failure. And they don't understand the reasoning. Having a Janitor grill you on why anyone should be required to be on call outs