Krystal Ball reported on the lengths Amazon is going to in blocking unionization. It is really disturbing the lengths they are going to, and this could have implications for all kinds of workplaces. It's so bad that the technology will actually fire you rather than managers.
She also notes that Amazon is using the social distancing rules against union organizing.
Also take a look at the 911 calls that come in from Amazon warehouses:
The Daily Beast's report was based on interviews with current and former employees and a review of 911 call logs and police records."It's this isolating colony of hell where people having breakdowns is a regular occurrence," the former Amazon employee Jace Crouch told The Daily Beast. An anonymous employee told The Daily Beast that the company treated its workers like "robots."
The Daily Beast said its report was "not evidence that Amazon staffers experience suicidal episodes more often than other American workers, in or out of a warehouse." And the rate of suicide in the US is on the rise — the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention estimated that there were 1.4 million suicide attempts in the US in 2017.
Amazon disputes this characterization of its work culture and said it offers employees a number of resources when it comes to mental health.
Strike in Germany on Prime day:
https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1357796064670212098?s=20
Amazon has lost its bid to prevent mail-in voting for unionization at its Alabama warehouse. Nice try though.
National Labor Relations Board denies Amazon bid to delay election and says vote can be conducted by mail
Votes are being counted now. Currently running about 2-1 against the union. :(
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/technology/amazon-union-vote.html
Too bad
https://www.rawstory.com/amazon-union-election-alabama/
Amazon's election tactics will likely be challenged before the National Labor Relations Board, which has the power to order a new election. However, the anti-union history in the Deep South remains a strong obstacle.
https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1380622130170228738?s=20
No wonder Biden endorsed this. No wonder it's been getting such glowing press. Perhaps Amazon workers realized they could do better than Appelbaum's RWDSU.
Leadership of the Amazon Trade Union Movement: RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum, a Government Official
https://labornewswire.com/leadership-of-the-amazon-trade-union-movement-...
"A look at the background of RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum is instructive. He is a longtime government official deeply embedded in the Democratic Party and the AFL-CIO bureaucracy, including the AFL-CIO's overseas operations conducted with the aim of undermining workers's resistance to tyranny and oppression. He is a member of the Democratic National Committee where he serves on the Executive Committee of the DNC. He is co-chair of the DNC resolution committee and chair of the DNC working council. Appelbaum was a delegate of the democratic national conventions of 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020. In 2008 he was a member of the Electoral College in New York.
WSWS writer David Walsh wrote: 'The AFL-CIO continues to conduct dirty operations around the world through organizations like the American Center for International Labor Solidarity or the Solidarity Center, 96 percent of which is funded by the US government. The ACILS is part of the National Foundation for Democracy (NED), a line for state funds that were previously covertly passed on by the CIA.
Appelbaum sits on the board of Freedom House, a right-wing anti-communist group that served as a conduit for CIA propaganda during the Cold War. In 1998, Noam Chomsky and Edward S Herman wrote in their book Manufacturing Consent that Freedom House 'locks' itself with various ultra-right outfits and US government agencies like Radio Free Europe and the CIA. 'It has served a long time', they wrote, 'as a virtual propaganda arm of the government and the international right-wing.'
Appelbaum is chairman of the Jewish Labor Committee, a pro-Israel lobby within the American trade unions. In this capacity he tries to give the ongoing Israeli oppression of the Palestinians a slightly 'progressive' sheen. His resume begs the question of what kind of genuine 'workers organization' would tolerate such a figure as its leader..."
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/opinion/amazon-union-alabama.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
This is what freedom and democracy looks like. The rich are free to do whatever they please because they have the same freedom of expression as any other citizen or corporate person. This is exactly the reason why the US warmongering elite, from both sides of their duopoly, want to export their brand of democracy everywhere.