Current Events > Employees at Amazon's new NYC warehouse launch union push

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https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-12/employees-at-amazon-s-new-nyc-warehouse-launch-unionization-push

A committee of employees at Amazons recently opened Staten Island fulfillment center is going public with a unionization campaign, a fresh challenge to the e-commerce giant in a city where it plans to build a major new campus.

Labor unrest is the latest complication in Amazons plan to invest $2.5 billion and hire 25,000 people in the city over the next 15 years. Several New York City politicians who were shut out of negotiations handled by the governor and mayor have raised objections to a new office park in Queens that threatens to overload mass transit and drive up rents in an already expensive housing market.

Now workers in a another borough are saying the company treats them like robots and should be focused on improving conditions there rather than raking in tax breaks to build a new headquarters.

The union theyre working with sees the up to $3 billion in incentives offered to bring an Amazon office campus to Long Island City as leverage to prevent the company from retaliating against them for organizing.

Employees backing the union effort said in interviews Tuesday that the issues at the warehouse include safety concerns, inadequate pay, and 12-hour shifts with insufficient breaks and unreasonable hourly quotas, after which they lose more of their day waiting unpaid in long lines for security checks.

"They talk to you like youre nothing -- all they care about is their numbers," said Rashad Long, who makes $18.60 an hour and commutes four hours a day to work at the warehouse. "They talk to you like youre a robot."

Next weeks news: Amazon closes down new NYC warehouse and pulls plans for NYC headquarters
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Wow
Treat employees like shit and they fight back

Who knew?!?!?
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voldothegr8 posted...

Next weeks news: Amazon closes down new NYC warehouse and pulls plans for NYC headquarters

I mean, they're clearly banking on sunk cost and the assumption that it will be far cheaper to let them unionize than it would be to abandon the new project entirely.
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cool, hope virginia is next. the way my state literally whored itself out for amazon was disgusting.
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I am so happy that Amazon chose NYC and DC, which were probably the most expensive cities on the East Coast to begin with.
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s0nicfan posted...

voldothegr8 posted...

Next weeks news: Amazon closes down new NYC warehouse and pulls plans for NYC headquarters

I mean, they're clearly banking on sunk cost and the assumption that it will be far cheaper to let them unionize than it would be to abandon the new project entirely.

Clearly they're dumb if they think Amazon gives a fuck about sunk cost
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I work for a company in NJ that operates several warehouse/distribution centers and specializes in e-commerce order fulfillment. they are like a baby Amazon. I have seen the working conditions inside the warehouses and they are awful. 90% of the warehouse employees are illegal aliens but they still deserve better. The hours are long and the work is grueling.
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Now workers in a another borough are saying the company treats them like robots and should be focused on improving conditions there rather than raking in tax breaks to build a new headquarters.

This is such a ridiculously entitled attitude. The purpose of a company is to make money by selling products/services, not to make its employees happy. They only need to worry about keeping their workers happy to the extent that it's necessary to maintain a steady enough supply of workers to keep the wheels turning.
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DifferentialEquation posted...

Now workers in a another borough are saying the company treats them like robots and should be focused on improving conditions there rather than raking in tax breaks to build a new headquarters.

This is such a ridiculously entitled attitude. The purpose of a company is to make money by selling products/services, not to make its employees happy. They only need to worry about keeping their workers happy to the extent that it's necessary to maintain a steady enough supply of workers to keep the wheels turning.

i know you're DE and all, but, like, i dont get how what you typed goes against what you quoted.
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Good. If they succeed then it will push all the other facilities to go that route as well. There is zero excuse for a company that large and profitable to have working conditions that poor.
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DifferentialEquation posted...

They only need to worry about keeping their workers happy to the extent that it's necessary to maintain a steady enough supply of workers to keep the wheels turning.

Indeed. If turnover/working conditions mattered and were affecting profits, you'd see something done about it very quickly.

As it stands, places that perpetuate the "more expensive to hire a new employee than to keep an old one" usually don't actually care. Cheaper to keep newbies flowing in than to pay everyone better or treat them better.

Giant_Aspirin posted...

DifferentialEquation posted...

Now workers in a another borough are saying the company treats them like robots and should be focused on improving conditions there rather than raking in tax breaks to build a new headquarters.

This is such a ridiculously entitled attitude. The purpose of a company is to make money by selling products/services, not to make its employees happy. They only need to worry about keeping their workers happy to the extent that it's necessary to maintain a steady enough supply of workers to keep the wheels turning.

i know you're DE and all, but, like, i dont get how what you typed goes against what you quoted.

Workers were complaining about how the company treats them like robots. But apparently, the company is able to find enough people to work under those conditions, so why should they treat the workers better?
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ScazarMeltex posted...

Good. If they succeed then it will push all the other facilities to go that route as well. There is zero excuse for a company that large and profitable to have working conditions that poor.

Clearly you've never worked a warehouse job before. Some of them are far worse than Amazon and just about all of them have high turnover.
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They better not retreat to Jersey

This place is already a shitshow without their help
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