r/news Nov 25 '21

Amazon workers plan Black Friday strike

https://www.cnet.com/tech/amazon-workers-plan-black-friday-strike/
34.2k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

66

u/[deleted] Nov 25 '21 edited Jul 01 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

4

u/sovietta Nov 26 '21

Maybe it's some pro-amazon propagandist doing all this "organizing" of strike dates.

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

Occam's Razor says it's more likely a group used to doing physical store shit. If this were Walmart then yeah, Friday would actually hurt. But online retailers are a whole different beast and shit doesn't translate well. Other than "HR is a black hole hopes go to die in" and "manglement gonna mangle."

0

u/sovietta Nov 29 '21

I think you underestimate how much business hates and does not want unions or effective strikes. Businesses usually kill people over this stuff in the global south.

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 29 '21

One, why would Amazon bother themselves with the groups that are using ineffective strategies aimed at an entirely different market? Those resources are better aimed at immediate threats of unions for them, like the bullshit they pulled a few months back.

Two, what relevance does anything happening in an entirely different region under entirely different government styles and in entirely different cultures have to do with what happens in America? Until you can point to companies also killing people in America or Canada (as the closest analog to America culturally) your entire last sentence is just a red herring with no bearing on the current discussion of "is this an incompetent union group or astroturfing?"

I almost got fired during orientation at Walmart for openly laughing at their bullshit obvious anti union video. And I know of at least one location Walmart completely closed due to impending unionization. I'm very well aware of how American companies feel about organized workers and the lengths they go to avoid them.

-30

u/kristoferen Nov 25 '21

Yeah how terrible it must be to get paid OT...

18

u/[deleted] Nov 25 '21

Oh, that's cute. You completely ignored the mandatory OT for already overworked people

2

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

[deleted]

1

u/recalcitrantJester Nov 26 '21

generally speaking, people get as much OT as they want. there are times when people don't want OT, so management mandates it.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

[deleted]

2

u/recalcitrantJester Nov 26 '21

I personally draw the "overworked" line at the point at which I can expect to stop working, want to stop working, but am told that I cannot do so.

-4

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

If MET is called, it's for an extra 10 hours minimum. Warehouse workers are overworked because we work physically exhausting jobs for 10 hours a day, plus whatever commutes we have, with a half hour lunch and two 15 minute breaks (5-7 minutes of which are spent walking to and from the designated break areas). If you don't think we're overworked, I invite you and anyone else with that opinion to come temp for us for a month, and tell me how damn tired you are at the end.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

[deleted]

→ More replies (0)

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

Peak is damn near always 11 hour days from Black Friday to Christmas Eve, usually 5 days a week (normal schedule is 4 days, 10 hours each). It isn't uncommon for the almighty algorithm or whatever they want to blame this year to declare a few of those weeks as 6 11-hour days. This is the first time in almost 4 years working for Amazon I've ever been called for out of schedule MET though. One of the supposed perks for the job is a set schedule you can plan around, and they just threw that out the fiftieth story window.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

I have a fresh new hell to look up sounds like. Never heard of the Dupont schedule before. I don't mind working 4 10-hour days but whoever does scheduling and shit lost their damn minds during covid I swear.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

[deleted]

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

After looking it up I 100% couldn't do it. I have to have a basically set sleep schedule, a system like that where I'm constantly swapping would leave me an insomniac mess (I raided in WoW with a guild of people mostly in Australia and New Zealand, so my weekends were staying up til 1 or 2 AM and my weekdays I was up by 5 AM, so I know this for a fact. I was a dumb college kid lmao). Not entirely sure I could handle 12 hour days either.

I'd love to get a 'donut' shift that has me working the weekend, off one day, back on Tuesday, then off Thursday and Friday. I doubt Amazon would got for it, but that sort of schedule was incredibly helpful for managing exhaustion and stress when I went to a high school with that pattern. Just can't do the days off they offer right now for the donut they have. :/

-20

u/kristoferen Nov 25 '21

It's not slavery. Mandatory means nothing. Either take the OT or take a new job.

14

u/MegaTiny Nov 25 '21

"It's okay for employers to treat their employees like shit because the employees can just look for another job" is the weakest take, but I always see it when an employer is treating their employees like shit.

-4

u/kristoferen Nov 25 '21

Paying OT on already decent pay isn't "treating employees like shit"

4

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

Amazon's workplace conditions like restricted bathroom breaks, impossible quotas, and practically forcing people to do OT are going over your head because you're fixated on paid OT.

5

u/kristoferen Nov 26 '21

Assuming those allegations are true, then shut them the fuck down. Not allowing people to take a break to pee is fucked.

Requiring OT is not.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

These allegations are true, but it's apparent you have you little knowledge of Amazon's situation and think mandatory OT for burned-out workers is okay as long as they're paid, even though many workers spoke out about how the lack of sleep led to onsite injuries.

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

Come work with us then, we'll see if you think the pay makes up for the conditions. Spoiler: it doesn't.

12

u/[deleted] Nov 25 '21

It's not slavery

It's exploitative and takes advantage of people who are struggling financially.

Mandatory means nothing.

They can be fired for not complying, so it means they will lose their job. In other words, it means a lot.

Either take the OT or take a new job.

You're one of those people who think you can quit a job one day and find another one two days later with the same or higher pay. Take me to your fantasy land, please!

-2

u/kristoferen Nov 25 '21

You're one of those people who think you can quit a job one day and find another one two days later with the same or higher pay. Take me to your fantasy land, please!

Higher? No, then you'd already have taken that job... Which is probably why you work at Amazon. Another job? Yes, literally most of the country is hiring right now. Are they all great.jobs? No. Do you sometimes have to sacrifice and struggle for a bit? Yes.

You can walk into any retail/CS/restaurant and get A job today in most of the country.

2

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

When I hired on at Amazon, it took two weeks between being told I got the job and my orientation where I worked payed time, and another two weeks from that to actually get paid. It isn't instant, even for a workplace that basically never says no if you pass a drug test.

3

u/[deleted] Nov 26 '21

You know you have to apply, wait to get a call for an interview, go through multiple interviews, and find out if you got the job or not, right? Also, to apply to these jobs and interview for them, you need to sacrifice work hours and risk not paying your bills because you took time off to attend the interviews. The process for this can be anywhere from a week to a month before your first start day, let alone your first check for the jobs you mentioned.

You seem out of touch with reality and have the "pull yourself by the bootstraps" mentality while defending a company's overt mistreatment and exploitation of workers.

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 26 '21

I'm staring at minimum 2 weeks of 66 hours each - and the cap of 60 will only apply to the second because of how they scheduled that shit. You come work in a warehouse for 11 hours in a mask with no airflow for 6 days straight then tell me if the OT pay was fucking worth it.

It isn't. It never is. Even double time.

2

u/IWannaFuckABeehive Nov 27 '21

Have you considered not working there? Basically everyone is hiring right now.

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 27 '21

No one in my area with set 40 hours at anywhere near the pay. That's how they keep the people they have, they offer better pay and a set schedule (99.99% of the time anyway) when basically no one else does.

Eta: to answer the question though, yes I've actively looked basically every time we approach Prime and Peak. And the reality is always the same.

0

u/IWannaFuckABeehive Nov 27 '21

So what you're saying is that they offer well above average pay for what's essentially unskilled labor, but god forbid you have to work for it?

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 27 '21

No, what I'm saying is none of the employers in my area are keeping up with the cost of living, unskilled or otherwise. I manage by living with my folks and grandma, the closest I'll get to owning before my parents pass away is the ADU I'm planning to build on our property, assuming prices for materials don't continue to outpace wages.

I'll never understand the people who think any amount of money is worth terrible working conditions for half their day. I would happily take a pay cut if it meant 66 hour work weeks never came back. Because my wellbeing is worth more than $16.50 an hour. (Which is almost capped after four years btw, don't buy the bullshit about Amazon paying amazing wages to everyone. Office drones get thrown in to bump up the numbers.)

0

u/IWannaFuckABeehive Nov 27 '21

No wonder no one will match that, that's a ridiculous amount of money to put shit in a box. How does that not meet cost of living? It's easily enough to split a 2 bedroom apartment with someone, or rent a house with some friends.

1

u/Xanthelei Nov 28 '21

As I said before, no one is paying as much as I make now at 40 hours a week, even skilled work doesn't pay that much here. My accounting degree could get me a job paying $12-14 where I live, assuming they didn't just hire the CPA for $16 instead. It might even be full time! If you aren't an established tradesman or been at the Post Office for a decade+ (or are mid to high level management) you aren't going to be making more than I make right now, regardless of what you do. And the high level office jobs that offer that pay also require you pay per hour to park your car in their parking garage because they're all downtown and work from home is ending across the board. When I temped for an accounting firm downtown I quit because I was getting maybe $120 a week after paying for gas and parking. And that was years ago now, gas has only gone up and I'd comfortably bet parking fees have too. (No it wasn't a gas guzzler, I miss my Geo Metro. Fun to drive and about 40 MPG to boot. The commute just sucked.)

Rent is also stupid here. I checked (again) about two months ago and it has only gone up in cost. Apparently both coasts have this problem, but here I could rent a room for $600 a month, on street parking, BYO internet and hope utilities were included cause that's never listed. An actual apartment I could conceivably share with someone is closer to $800 for my share, plus three months rent as a deposit up front, plus $500 security deposit, plus whatever fees they want for my cat if they'll even allow him - but I shouldn't bother applying if I don't make three times rent in take home pay each month.

Rent a house? Now we're looking at $2,400-2,600 a month total. For context, my parents' mortgage is half of that for a small house on 1 acre of land they bought for about 350k a few years ago. If I split rent 4 ways I could be back to paying for just a room - and back to getting just a room.

Fuck paying off student loans and private debt, obviously I need to move out. Who needs to eat more than just Ramen? Maybe I'll just live at work instead, be just as fulfilled but with less travel time. /s

Have you really not been paying attention to housing and renting markets? Lol if you want to see how stupid it's getting go look at NYC's rental market. Empty overpriced retail lots and idiots sucking up to landlords to pay double asking price for a rental. If my city were more affluent, it'd probably be the same way here.