Invariably, they earn much less than high-paid computer programmers. Although Amazon has a high-tech image, blue-collar employees do most of the work. Higher labor costs could also narrow the company’s already thin profit margin. Steve Tadelis, a professor of economics at University of California at Berkeley who focuses on e-commerce, said that unionization would make it more complicated for Amazon to fire workers, among other things. Amazon is also being sued in a number of states for failing to pay workers for time spent waiting in security lines before and after work. Occupational Safety & Health Administration is investigating the death of a contractor at New Jersey package sorting facility owned by Amazon, but managed by Genco, a logistics firm. Some later traveled to Seattle to picket in front of Amazon’s headquarters. Warehouse workers in Germany have walked out several times over wage issues. News outlets have detailed everything from the exhausting nature of warehouse work (employees can walk as much as 15 miles daily) to ambulances waiting outside a facility to collect workers who overheated because of a lack of air conditioning. In other instances, the company gave managers anti-union material to hand out and warnings of how to spot union organizing by being on the lookout for hushed conversations.Īmazon’s workplace practices have come under fire in recent years. But Amazon soon closed the call center where they worked as part of broader cuts following the Internet boom years. In 2000, for example, the Communication Workers of America started a campaign to unionize 400 customer service employees. In addition, he said that they wanted to establish “an effective safety committee in the fast-paced workplace.” He downplayed the desire for better wages or benefits.ĭespite the union’s overwhelming loss, Carr said that the workers at the facility “understand a successful organizing campaign often requires several election cycles before representation is achieved.” Federal rules require any follow-up vote to be held at least year from now.Īmazon has held off attempts at union organizing in the past. Carr, the union spokesman, said that workers who voted-a small fraction of the 1,500 at the facility-had hoped to use collective bargaining to negotiate guidelines for seniority, promotions and vacation time.
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