Exploited Amazon workers need a union. When will they get one? – July 8, 2018
Well, leftist will be leftist and Michael Sainato takes his left-leaning readers on a trip on why Amazon workers should force Jeff Bezos to raise the number of money workers to make and the number of benefits they receive. Personally, I hate unions, however, I believe that unions have a right to exist in THE PRIVATE SECTOR. Below is a link to Michael Sainato article on The Guardian
Personally, I don’t think Amazon workers are being exploited, they’re well paid, there’s also a policy in place that if in Amazon employee quits there’s an opportunity for them to get up to $5000USD not to return and it’s important for Amazon workers to know that if they unionize there’s a good chance more of the jobs at Amazon might be automated, or Amazon may simply cut back their fulfilment centers, cut back on Amazon Prime or redesign, restructure how they do business.
If prices to use Amazon go up, especially now, there’s a good chance customers will return eBay, furthermore, there are already online retailers that are anti-Amazon that would love to see Amazon’s prices go up so they can collectively wipe Amazon off the planet. Furthermore, Amazon is basically a convenience, it’s in a very interesting position as is and there’s no guarantee that multiple Amazon’s won’t emerge in the future. Amazon’s current profits in many ways are arbitrary and heavily dependant on expected future growth.
In case people haven’t noticed in many regions Wal Mart workers don’t have unions, which is why they’ve been able to survive and provide jobs. There are regions where Wal Mart unions have been able to form but it’s not common and the reason it’s not common is that unions force prices up for customers. Furthermore, a small town or city without a Wal Mart is not good for that small town, when there’s no big name retailer it affects everything in that region and the reason for this is that in small towns with no major retailer, customers become more reliant on mail-in orders as their options are limited.
This is one of the reasons why Amazon has been so profitable, Amazon has been able to conveniently satisfy a convenience for Rural communities on the cheap as Rural communities are able to access a market that wasn’t as reliable as before. What I mean by this is that Amazon Prime in many ways gives customers the convenience of free returns. If a person as an example makes the same purchase from an eBay merchant, returns aren’t always as easy, as most merchants have no return policy, furthermore free shipping for Prime members, how high can the price of Amazon memberships go before the Amazon model no longer becomes profitable.
The problem with unions is that they protect ALL workers, this includes the lazy workers. In every company there exists hardworking workers and lazy workers, there also exist employees that are out to get benefits with minimal amounts of work and these workers will often exploit the systems set up by the Unions, this forces costs to go up, this also creates a culture that’s impossible to manage, which in turn leads to outsourcing.
I understand Donald Trump’s position on bringing jobs back to America, but the downside to this has always been leftists. Leftist usually base their economic platforms on raising wages for workers, while giving workers more protections. In many ways, this is Donald Trump’s position and the downside to this type of thinking is that a large segment of the American workforce will feel entitled. An entitled American workforce will in time vote left, especially in a tariff rich environment.
I don’t like workers unions, but I don’t deny their right to an existence. Amazon is a lot more vulnerable than people think, a union would put Amazon services to a screeching halt and the little money Amazon has made, which by the way is mostly based on what Amazon shareholders can sell Amazon stocks for could easily wipe out profits in an instant. Especially if this Union thing in Amazon becomes widespread.
A brief explanation of what would happen if Amazon Unionizes
If Amazon unionizes the first thing that will happen from Amazon’s perspective is Amazon will have to reanalyze entitlements for workers as well as employee performance. The problem with workers unions is not the hard working among them it’s lazy and scammer type of employee, once a union is formed the hard working and lazy are lumped together and viewed as 1 entity. I’ve worked in several unionized environments and it’s always the same thing.
So, Amazon will then have to restructure it’s profit margins, it’s not to say that Amazon profits in the short term won’t go up, but its entitlements and threats of workers strikes will also increase also, meaning that if Amazon wants to launch a new product or service it may not be able to do so, because of the Union.
One of the reasons owners of Unionized worker environments don’t bring new products to consumers is because they have to anticipate the added costs of hiring more unionized individuals to do a job. This is one of the reasons why Unions formed around government-funded institutions destroy entire nations. Once there’s no incentive for owners of companies to innovate they simply don’t, which eventually leads to the creation of things like Uber.
The concept of Uber has been around since Taxis companies first formed, But Taxi companies in many regions of the world demanded more protections which in time led to a lack of innovation. Again I’m not anti-Union in the private sector but I hope workers understand that are pros and cons once the use of force is used to negotiate.
If you don’t like working for Amazon, my advice is to quit, if Amazon has a hard time filling vacant jobs they’ll pay their workers more, it’s really that simple. In fact, in my opinion, the best way to unionize is to figure out how a company makes its money and from their find a way to get the capital so you can compete with them, or create a company of your own that profit off of Amazon.
I really wish the world would stop thinking in these backward left-leaning ways. everywhere leftism is practiced disasters multiply. Humans instinctively love freedom, of course, we need laws by economic strangulation destroys the social fabric of society, it creates a different type of mind that then multiplies and becomes a virus on the productive members of society. Create a union on Amazon if you want but understand Amazon is an innovation away from becoming yesterday’s news.
Interestiong times ahead.