Quote:
Originally Posted by Dochrohan
If one unionizes, would that not force others to consider the same?
Also, would this not reflect rather poorly if they abandoned the distribution center in Alabama just to avoid negotiations.
I'm somewhat torn and ambivalent over this ...
As a long-time Amazon customer - I started buying books from Amazon in 1998 - I enjoy their low prices and generally good service. To his credit, Jeff Bezos has instilled the philosophy (and the practice) that the customer comes first. That mindset comes from the top and filters down across the entire company. A lot of companies "talk" a good game when it comes to putting their customers first. Mr. Bezos actually means it. So that's the positive side of Amazon.
As an unrepentant "librul," what bothers me about Amazon is the way they [allegedly] treat their workers. If some of what I have read is actually true, I would never consider applying for a job with Amazon myself or recommending a friend or relative apply. I've worked in only one union plant during my lifetime. (It was a corrugated box plant while I was working my way through college. If you love working in 100 degree heat and sweating off 10 pounds a day, you would have loved working in that plant.)
It's possible that I could be wrong about this, but my sense is that companies who experience "labor problems" - especially union organizing efforts - have brought it on themselves. Workers who are being treated with dignity and respect by their employer are generally not susceptible to a union organizing effort. When a company (like Amazon?) becomes obsessed with squeezing every last smidgen of productivity out of their workers, it's tantamount to giving unions a green light to organize their workers.
It's a fine line managers have to draw between maximizing productivity and having a tolerable work environment. The companies (and managements) that strike the right balance have labor peace. Those that don't wind up having to deal with a union.
