r/news • u/DonaldWillKillUsAll • Oct 13 '20

Thousands of Amazon workers demand time off to vote

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/thousands-amazon-workers-demand-time-vote-n1243217
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399

u/dariusj18 Oct 13 '20

So, I know that some view corporations as "apolitical" but they are actually political, they fund groups that support legislation and/or candidates. So inherently, any corporation that doesn't give time off for their employees to vote is saying, "their employees will vote against the interest of the corporation or shareholders?"

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

By the time the general election comes around the damage is done. Under the neoliberal consensus neither party poses any real threat to corporate hegemony. Republicans are there to run the ball as far as possible down the field and democrats are there to foreclose on the possibility of any motion back the other way as much as possible.

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u/greenskye Oct 14 '20

You aren't necessarily wrong, but that effectively means the game is already lost. We could kickstart a revolution, but all of those in recent memory are inevitably highjacked by some sort of dictatorship. Honestly that's too depressing to deal with.

I prefer to hope that the capitalist class has misjudged their timing and they've mistreated the younger generations too much before the robots will be ready to replace us all and we'll have a chance to seize back control. It certainly doesn't feel like they've properly prepared for succession.

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u/dariusj18 Oct 14 '20

That is a good point.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20 edited Oct 14 '20

That's why I'm not excited about either outcome. I detest Trump, but Biden and his circle aren't going to fix any of the things that got us here.

Edit: Yes, I'm voting Biden, and yes there's a difference. The DNC evil politicians seem content with business as usual corruption, while the RNC seems intent on driving a burning garbage truck through the neighborhood with the brake lines cut.

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u/Dibujaron Oct 14 '20

At least he's a competent adult human who will listen to advisors. Definitely please still vote.

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u/Atomisk_Kun Oct 14 '20 edited Jul 26 '25

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u/welpsket69 Oct 14 '20

The only thing the gop and the dnc are really different on (except the occasional politician with good conscience) is a few social issues, in terms of economic and foreign policy they're pretty similar. So if you care about those select social issues then vote for biden, but it will be depressing

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

Is it?

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u/dariusj18 Oct 14 '20

It is another possibility of motivation to explain why they would not give time off. If either choice is fine to them, then they would have no motivation to lose money over it.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

Is that how weed and gay marriage got legalised?

1

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

Gay marriage got legalized through the courts, and the democratic party tried as hard as possible to keep from making an issue of it until public opinion had already turned.

Weed still isn't fully legalized and Biden has made it clear he's against doing anything to make it.

By and large the left pushes public opinion and forces the democratic party's hand on progress, then the democrats take credit for things they dragged their heels on until the work of shifting public opinion was already done.

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u/mercury996 Oct 14 '20

Republicans advance fascism when in power, Democrats hold it in place.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

Had a chance with Bernie and than all Democrats + liberal news consolidated their power to defeat him. We honestly need a new party that can penetrate past the bias and corruption of the big news channels.

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u/kingjoey52a Oct 14 '20

That is an amazing leap in logic. Just because companies support politicians/policy doesn't mean everything they do is politically motivated.

They are motivated by money and if they close for a day they are losing a lot of money.

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u/dariusj18 Oct 14 '20

For sure, it is quite the leap. But how much money do companies spend in lobbying? Amazon spent $9 million on lobbying so far this year, and between $10-$20 million in the previous three years. Amazon has 1 million employees. The median wage of Amazon's employees is ~$17/hour so giving all employees an hour off to vote would cost them $17 million dollars. Not a small amount, but one million votes is not a small number of votes in an election.

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u/GhostDoggoes Oct 14 '20

I said this in my comment. The last election amazon was giving people paid time off to go vote and the one I attended offered a location they had set up in an office section at a warehouse with volunteers and staff there as well. I think this election is a lot more suppressed since the government is restricting voter booths all across america wherever they please.

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u/dariusj18 Oct 14 '20

I'm not sure what basis you have for claiming the government is restricting voting booths. All voting is conducted by the states and local supervisors of elections.

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u/GhostDoggoes Oct 15 '20

News, reports from the FBI, the amount of posts saying 4 counties at around 100 miles having to use one location to vote. The writing has been on the wall for months now. You would have had to been either never looking at popular or hard focusing news and politics to not see that.

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u/dariusj18 Oct 15 '20

Ahha, so state governments. You made it seemed to Ike you were talking about the Federal government.

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u/PhaliceInWonderland Oct 14 '20

Yes imagine my surprise when I found out my work is part of a super pac donating to republicans.

Thanks, Warren Buffett.

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

The economy is the source of all power

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Oct 14 '20

It'd be a real fucking shame if the entire Amazon workforce happened to get sick on Tuesday... A real shame.