People are getting laid off from every other job left and right I would be surprised if they have the leverage you think they do. The increase in pay for people working through this is to compensate for the perceived risk of getting sick which is different than a shortage of workers. When you have record numbers of people applying for unemployment you can certainly replace striking workers quickly and with the current situation there would be zero sympathy from the public over a union causing that kind of mess.
Who is your public in this conception? Most people in the US works jobs closer to Amazon warehouse workers and don’t want to see they’re loved ones made sick or injured so upper middle class people can hoard prime deliveries.
The UAW was pushing for factories to shutdown out of concern for worker safety in Michigan before they decided to, they were applauded for doing so by the governor, and none of my family there thinks they were in the wrong.
Everyone who was caught unprepared and is trying to stock up on food, toilet paper, and household cleaning supplies. Your characterization of Prime Members doesn't jive with reality plenty of lower income house holds have prime memberships[0] and that isn't a requirement for ordering from Amazon either so I'm not sure why you bring it up.
What do you think your family's opinion of UAW would be if they represented workers in Toilet Paper, Clorox, and Food manufacturing and got those plants to shut down and they could no longer get those products? Autos are a way different thing than the essentials.
> During the measured period in August 2018, it was found that 55.7 percent of consumers with an income of 75,000 U.S. dollars and more had an Amazon Prime membership.
I dunno where you live, but if a lot of your customer base in in this income range, you’re a good deal outside the median in the US.
> What do you think family's opinion of UAW would be if they represented workers in Toilet Paper, Clorox, and Food manufacturing and got those plants to shut down and they could no longer get those products?
I grew up knowing a fair amount of farmers and people manufacturing the exact kind of stuff you’re describing. Very few of them would side with the bosses. Most of these people in the Midwest are going to local grocery chains (there are huge regional players in the Midwest) to buy this stuff, not buying off Amazon. Going to Target or Trader Joe’s instead of these stores is seen as status signaling.
That graph says that 1/3rd of households making less than 35k per year and 40% of households that make between 35k and 75k a year have prime membership.
I'm from the mid-west. Where do you think Meijer, Schnucks, and Jewl Osco get their toilet paper from? If the union insists the TP plant shut down there is no TP whether you buy that from the grocery store or Amazon.
If the union insists the toilet paper factory shut down because everyone is getting sick, there’s not going to be a toilet paper factory if the bosses disregard. The same is true of Amazon’s logistics network, although I’m sure they’ll try and pretend it isn’t.
If workers unionize right now, then it will probably put the general public opinion against the workers. Specially as the pandemic get its way into the US, and more and more people self quarantine, and start relying in delivery services for all their shopping
With as many service workers expected to be out of a job for awhile after this blows over, if warehouse workers try to strike, there will be plenty of people willing to take their place.
Then again, lots of laid off workers (like me) come from other unions. What better way to unionize a workplace than by flooding it with union workers from other industries?
That’s why it’s actually important to unionize in the very near term. Amazon can’t replace all of their workers if they unionize right away and the union leverage can guarantee safer working conditions for all the new hires.
it's a tricky time for both sides. imagine the optics of actually striking during the current crisis. not sure whether amazon or the union would come out looking worse, but it would be a big hit to both.
The virus has given them no such thing. These are only temporary measures meant to stem attrition because Amazon set a policy of unlimited UPT until the end of the month for anyone sick... as soon as that's no longer necessary, there will be mass layoffs and pay cuts across the board.
Regardless, Amazon needs to play this very carefully. If they do not take appropriate actions to protect their workforce and the virus proliferates throughout their supply chain and logistics network, they will be completely shutdown.
Paying workers double pay does not make COVID-19 cases go down, if anything, you're encouraging it to go up by having more employees working together for longer hours, and as those cases go up, the higher the chances of a legal mandate to shutdown becomes.
I understand what you're saying, but walking out or forcing negotiations during a global pandemic is sociopathic, and the union would gather a massive amount of political venom.
I don't know how you think bargaining works, but they don't just demand "do XYZ or we'll all walk out". There's lots of levers on both sides. The point of negotiation is to arrive at a mutually beneficial solution. Striking is always a last resort, and quite rare, since it's bad for workers, too.
Even for a typical right-winger like me (I'm actively fighting against unionization in my own profession) it makes total sense in context of warehouse workers and current events.
Interesting -- what's the basis for this distinction? Unions make sense for the dumb masses in low-end jobs, but not for smart professionals like yourself?
I think the common argument is that unions tend to flatten pay disparities among workers. if you're currently recognized as an outstanding performer and compensated accordingly, you might expect to lose out under unionization. not saying this is necessarily true (or untrue), just that this is what people think. in fields where productivity varies less by skill, you would tend to see less of this objection.
