Amazon Watch Thread

[AmateurAgitator]

They'll have the staff. They'll keep raising wages and benefits.

What fucking planet are you living on TomUS? Your only 'contribution' to these forums is always posting stupid shit.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

This is what the future looks like to Jeff Bezos:

Photos of a new, sprawling Amazon warehouse in Mexico surrounded by deteriorating shacks have gone viral as the tech giant continues to expand its footprint internationally

In the US, you have people working for Amazon who live in their cars and vans just outside the warehouse too.

There’s no clear count of how many people live nomadically in America. Full-time travelers are a demographer’s nightmare. Statistically they blend in with the rest of the population, since the law requires them to maintain fixed – in other words, fake – addresses.

Despite a lack of hard numbers, anecdotal evidence suggests the ranks of American itinerants started to boom after the housing collapse and have kept growing.

The cause of the unmanageable household math that drives some people to become nomads is no secret.

Federal minimum wage is stalled at $7.25 an hour. The cost of shelter continues to climb. There are now only a dozen counties and one metro area where a full-time minimum-wage worker can afford a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent.

At the same time, the top 1% now makes , when you compare average earnings. For American adults on the lower half of the income ladder – some 117 million of them – .
This is not a wage gap – it’s a chasm.

The most widely accepted measure for calculating income inequality is a century-old formula called the Gini coefficient. What it reveals is startling. Today the United States has the most unequal society of all developed nations. America’s level of inequality is comparable to that of Russia, China, Argentina and the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And a bad as that economic situation is now, it’s likely to get worse. That makes me wonder: what further contortions of the social order will appear in years to come? How many people will get crushed by the system? How many will find a way to escape it?

Living in cars, working for Amazon: meet America's new nomads | Jessica Bruder

Rising rents are leading Americans to live in cars and other vehicles

www.theguardian.com

 

[hash tag]

Meanwhile, closer to home BBC News - Amazon pays £492m in UK tax as sales surge to £20.6bn

Amazon pays £492m in UK tax as sales surge to £20.6bn

The online retail giant saw UK sales rise by 50% last year amid a Covid-driven hike in demand.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Pickman's model]

Meanwhile, closer to home BBC News - Amazon pays £492m in UK tax as sales surge to £20.6bn

Amazon pays £492m in UK tax as sales surge to £20.6bn

The online retail giant saw UK sales rise by 50% last year amid a Covid-driven hike in demand.

www.bbc.co.uk

It's a start

 

[hash tag]

A spit in the ocean

 

[spring-peeper]

Amazon to hire 15,000 employees across Canada; increase wages

Amazon Canada is hiking wages as it seeks to fill thousands of new jobs against the backdrop of a labour market that has been dramatically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

www.ctvnews.ca

The e-commerce giant said Monday it will hire 15,000 new warehouse and distribution workers in communities across the country this fall to support its ongoing Canadian expansion plans.

Amazon also announced it will increase the starting wage for its front-line, hourly employees in Canada to between $17 an hour and $21.65 an hour, up from its current starting wage of around $16 an hour.

Existing employees will also receive an additional $1.60 to $2.20 per hour, starting immediately, Amazon said, regardless of how long they've been with the company.

 

[ItWillNeverWork]

I know someone who is a warehouse shift manager. He started wearing a pedometer and regularly clocks in 10-15 mile days. Even as a manager, has neither desk or chair, just a keypad. They get managers to comply with this because they dangle a plush retirement package for anyone who is promoted above that level. Naturally, this happens rarely, if at all.

I bought a pedometer once for jogging. It was terrifying. The further I ran the more pedos it detected. I tried running faster to get away from them, but it only got worse. I think they were following me

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I bought a pedometer once for jogging. It was terrifying. The further I ran the more pedos it detected. I tried running faster to get away from them, but it only got worse. I think they were following me

Well, at least its serving the purpose of getting you into fighting shape. You should go back to Amazon and give it a five-star rating.

 

[hash tag]

Is no where sacred. For goodness sake, the Coop of all people. Co-op faces criticism as it begins selling groceries via Amazon

 

[hitmouse]

This book might be of interest:

How Amazon Is Remaking Our World

A new book explores the ways that corporate giant Amazon is remaking our cities and towns – from overcrowded homes for low-income workers to the gentrification that accompanies its vast developments.

tribunemag.co.uk

 

[hash tag]

"prime investment in our retail sector."

 

[hitmouse]

Amazon to hire 15,000 employees across Canada; increase wages

Amazon Canada is hiking wages as it seeks to fill thousands of new jobs against the backdrop of a labour market that has been dramatically altered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

www.ctvnews.ca

On a related note, Canadian teamsters hoping they'll have more success than the Alabama lot, eh:

A Canadian Amazon Warehouse Could Soon Be the First to Unionize in North America

The Teamsters hope the union drive will build momentum at warehouses across the country — and the continent.

truthout.org

 

[hash tag]

In UK it's bookstore day Saturday 9th October. If anyone is in any doubt why not to use Amazon, read this and see how much it means to people.
"It's made us feel like the author and the publishing industry really cares about smaller stores" and so on. Fuck Amazon, buy local, buy small, buy independent, if possible

Dave and Goliath: maverick writer Eggers makes a stand against Amazon

The author likes small bookshops. So he won’t let the online giant sell his new hardback

www.theguardian.com

 

[yield]

Waterstones aren't much better. Waterstones paying millions to US ‘vulture fund’ owners while denying staff living wage – Corporate Watch

Waterstones own Foyles, Hatchards & Hodges Figgis.

Some good independents in London

Housmans Bookshop

We are a not-for-profit bookshop, specialising in books, zines, and periodicals of radical interest and progressive politics. We stock the largest range of radical newsletters, newspapers and magaz…

housmans.com

London Review Bookshop

London's best independent bookshop

www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk

Word on the Water - The London Bookbarge

London's independent bookshop on a barge is now shipping books worldwide. Visit our online shop and choose your favourites.

www.wordonthewater.co.uk

New Beacon Books

www.newbeaconbooks.com

 

[Dogsauce]

Amazon quite happy to list shit like this for sale, such misinformation has a body count.

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[hitmouse]

As far as I can tell, Bookshop.org seems to be fairly non-evil:

About BookShop

uk.bookshop.org

Anyway, this article's a few months old but only just seen it:

In Poland, Amazon Workers Are Organizing

Ever since Amazon arrived in Poland in 2014, the country has been a laboratory for the company's strategy of pitting workers of different nations against one another. We spoke with Polish shop-floor activists who are organizing Amazon workers for a global fightback.

jacobinmag.com

 

[hash tag]

Bookshop.org.uk has had a few mentions, I don't recall any negative comments

 

[Serge Forward]

Five Leaves in Nottingham and News From Nowhere in Liverpool

 

[hash tag]

Close down small businesses by out pricing them, or enticing staff away Small firms’ fury as Amazon offers £3,000 sign-up bonus to attract Christmas staff

 

[teqniq]

Colour me surprised:

Amazon Misled Congress, U.S. Lawmakers Say While Teasing Potential Criminal Probe

Amazon executives still have one more chance to clarify their statements about third-party sellers' data.

gizmodo.com

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Amazon settles wage theft suit:

Amazon to pay huge settlement in wage theft case

This week in "Amazon is scum" news, on Tuesday the company reached a $61.7 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over a longstanding practice of stealing tips from delivery drivers.Drivers for Amazon Flex were recruited with the promise of $18 to $25 an hour plus customer tips...

www.alternet.org

Its interesting. If you steal from a corporation, you go to prison for embezzlement. If they steal from you, you have to spend years working to get paid and only get a little bit of back wages. At the very least they should have had to pay triple damage for their bad behavior. Personally, I don't think jail time would be out of order, considering that they stole more than $60 million from their drivers.

 

[Idris2002]

I bought a pedometer once for jogging. It was terrifying. The further I ran the more pedos it detected. I tried running faster to get away from them, but it only got worse. I think they were following me

"This is the last thing we wanted to happen"

 

[hitmouse]

Amazon Will Face Black Friday Strikes and Protests in 20 Countries

The actions on November 26 will highlight the scale of Amazon’s role in the global economy.

www.vice.com

Website is here:

Make Amazon Pay

We are workers and citizens divided by geography and our role in the global economy but united in our commitment to Make Amazon Pay fair wages, its taxes and for its impact on the planet. Join us and #MakeAmazonPay

makeamazonpay.com

 

[hitmouse]

Amazon fires a protected Inicjatywa Pracownicza shop steward. Make Amazon pay for it!

On November 9, 2021 Amazon Poland gave a dismissal notice to Magda Malinowska, who has worked for 6 years at its warehouse in Sady near Poznan. Magda is a protected union representative and member of the Inicjatywa Pracownicza union, as well as an elected healthy and safety inspector. She is a...

ozzip.pl

On November 9, 2021 Amazon Poland gave a dismissal notice to Magda Malinowska, who has worked for 6 years at its warehouse in Sady near Poznan. Magda is a protected union representative and member of the Inicjatywa Pracownicza union, as well as an elected healthy and safety inspector. She is a long-time Inicjatywa Pracownicza activist, maker of documentaries on the labor movement, and is a co-founder of Amazon Workers International.

Amazon cites alleged "filming or photographing the action of moving a corpse" as the formal reason for the dismissal. This is presumably about a man who died inside the warehouse on September 6, 2021. An ongoing legal case is investigating whether negligence on the part of the company contributed to this. The allegation against the trade unionist is completely unfounded. Magda Malinowska as a recognised health and safety inspector was concerned about the proper steps being taken after the workmate's death. For this reason, she asked Amazon to be included in the post-accident team but was turned down. She had no interest in filming or photographing any corpse, but she wanted to monitor the steps taken by the employer in case of irregularities.
A few days after the tragedy, Magda Malinowska, in an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, pointed out how the organization of work at Amazon can lead to a loss of employee's health or even life and why, according to the union, the event at the beginning of September should be considered a workplace accident: "Management likes to talk about an 'unpleasant random event' when in fact there have been two deaths of our employees in a short period of time. These are not random events; they are a result of the way things are done here. If the company policy had been different, the deaths might not have happened". The journalist authoring the article drew attention to the comments and irregularities reported by Amazon employees and the unions: excessive workloads, working beyond one's capacity, and fear of losing your job if you go on sick leave.
The dismissal is all the more scandalous because it was carried out against the objections, put in writing, by the trade union, which did not agree with it. According to us, Amazon grossly violated the provisions of both the Trade Unions Act (Article 32, Section 1) and the Social Labour Inspection Act (Article 13, Section 1). We are forced to interpret Amazon's actions as demonstrating gross incompetence of human resources services or as a conscious attempt to obstruct union activities (including health and safety inspection). We will take the case to court where we are demanding the immediate reinstatement of Magda Malinowska as well as financial compensation for unfair and unlawful dismissal.
We believe that the disciplinary action against Magda Malinowska is an escalation of Amazon's anti-union practices of recent months. Amazon has refused to allow trade unionists to perform health and safety audits, it has obstructed them from using their union hours, and unilaterally changed the provisions of the company's labor regulations, disregarding the views of the two organizations active at the company, Inicjatywa Pracownicza and Solidarność, neither of whom have agreed to recent changes affecting workers. Under Polish labor law, employers are not allowed to change these regulations without the unions' consent. In addition, union activists are regularly called upon to submit written explanations for alleged violations of Amazon's policies. It seems the company is chalking up "infractions" on union activists to use these against them.

Murem za Magdą - działaczką związkową bezprawnie zwolnioną przez Amazon // Solidarity with Magda - union activist fired illegaly by Amazon Poland | zrzutka.pl

/ENGLISH BELOW//Chcemy wesprzeć Magdę Malinowską, działaczkę związkową, która pracowała w firmie Amazon 6 lat i została właśnie w sposób skandaliczny i niezgodny z prawem zwolniona z pracy. Straciła ona w związku z tym jedyne źródło dochodu. Ze względu na dyscyplinarny charakter zwolnienia, nie prz1

zrzutka.pl

We want to support Magda Malinowska, a union activist who has worked for Amazon for 6 years and has just been scandalously and illegally dismissed from her job. As a result, she lost her only source of income. Due to the disciplinary nature of the dismissal, she is also not entitled to any severance pay or benefits from the Employment Agency, even if she registers as unemployed.

The purpose of the fundraising is to:

1) Cover of all legal costs;

2) Cover Magda's basic living costs, while she fights Amazon to get back to work and conduct further trade union activities.

* All additional money from the fundraising will be donated to the activities of the OZZ Workers Initiative.

Let us be with Magda today, let her feel our solidarity - because an attack on her is also an attack on the entire labor movement. It may be our turn next time. And Amazon will pay for it! #muremzamagda #makeamazonpay

 

[hitmouse]

Video interview with the sacked worker:

Dismissal of Amazon worker in Poznań

Amazon worker and union representative Magda Malinowska was dismissed by Amazon on November 9th, 2021

en.labournet.tv

 

[teqniq]

I would advocate that anyone who still shops with this company have a serious rethink:

The Amazon lobbyists who kill U.S. consumer privacy protections

Amazon has amassed a vast storehouse of consumer data. Internal documents reveal how it built a lobbying juggernaut that gutted privacy legislation in two dozen states.

www.reuters.com

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Finally, some good news:

Alabama Amazon warehouse gets another chance to vote on unionizing

A federal labor official has approved a new election at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. In a previous vote, workers overwhelmingly rejected forming a union, but the results were challenged.

www.wksu.org

Of course, we know that Amazon will still try to coerce the employees into voting against it again.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

I would advocate that anyone who still shops with this company have a serious rethink:

The Amazon lobbyists who kill U.S. consumer privacy protections

Amazon has amassed a vast storehouse of consumer data. Internal documents reveal how it built a lobbying juggernaut that gutted privacy legislation in two dozen states.

www.reuters.com

Sometimes I wonder which dystopian novel/movie it is that we're aiming for. Brave New World, 1984, Hunger Games? I've always been a fan of John Brunner. There are times that I think we're living in Shockwave Rider, The Sheep Look Up, or some combination of the two. I keep hoping I'm just turning into that old and cranky stereotype who hates everything modern, because that would be the least harmful of the available options.

 

[hitmouse]

Recent news from Illinois is seriously fucking grim:

Deadly Collapse at Amazon Warehouse Puts Spotlight on Phone Ban

An Amazon.com Inc. warehouse collapse on Friday night that killed at least six people has amplified concerns among its blue collar workforce about the return of the internet retailer’s mobile phone ban in work areas.

www.bloomberg.com

An Amazon.com Inc. warehouse collapse on Friday night that killed at least six people has amplified concerns among its blue collar workforce about the return of the internet retailer’s mobile phone ban in work areas.

The warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, near St. Louis, was reduced to rubble when a string of tornadoes ripped through six states, leaving a trail of destruction that stretched more than 200 miles. Emergency responders expect recovery efforts to continue into next week.

Amazon had for years prohibited workers from carrying their phones on warehouse floors, requiring them to leave them in vehicles or employee lockers before passing through security checks that include metal detectors. The company backed off during the pandemic, but has been gradually reintroducing it at facilities around the country.

Five Amazon employees, including two who work across the street from the building that collapsed, said they want access to information such as updates on potentially deadly weather events through their smartphones -- without interference from Amazon.

The phones can also help them communicate with emergency responders or loved ones if they are trapped, they said. “After these deaths, there is no way in hell I am relying on Amazon to keep me safe,” said one worker from a neighboring Amazon facility in Illinois. “If they institute the no cell phone policy, I am resigning.”

Another worker from an Amazon warehouse in Indiana said she is using up her paid time off whenever the company decides to remain open despite warnings of extreme weather events. Having her phone with her is critical to making those decisions, especially about sudden tornado risks, she said.

“I don’t trust them with my safety to be quite frank,” she said. “If there’s severe weather on the way, I think I should be able to make my own decision about safety.”

Amazon declined to address the concerns raised by workers about its mobile phone policy, saying its focus now is “on assisting the brave first responders on the scene and supporting our affected employees and partners in the area.”

Six dead, no hope of more survivors after tornadoes destroy Amazon warehouse

Six Amazon.com Inc workers were confirmed dead on Saturday after a series of tornadoes roared through a warehouse near St. Louis, ripping off its roof and causing 11-inch thick concrete walls longer than football fields to collapse on themselves.

www.reuters.com

It was unclear how many workers were still missing, as Amazon did not have an exact count of people working in the sorting and delivery center at the time the tornadoes hit, Whiteford said.

Multiple deaths confirmed after tornado hits Amazon warehouse

A majority of the building has been destroyed.

www.theverge.com

 

[NoXion]

How in the arse-blasting fuck do Amazon not know exactly who is working in their warehouses? They love to spy on their own workers, so what the fuck gives?!

Hell, even jobs which don't spy on their workers would be keeping track of who's clocked in and out.