Amazon.com Workers Begin Union Drive

[5string/Ypsilanti ARA <rgear@ONLINE.EMICH.EDU>]

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Haven't seen this flow across this list, so thought I'd pass this along.
Can anyone know of other examples in the industry at hand that are
unionized?  As a socialist, I would ultimately like to see all industries
unionized and in all nation-states.  Maybe something like this could
theoretically be syndicalist, where you could have people in different
nation-states belonging to the same union.

And while I'm chimping away....to save bandwidth and condense something
wanted to post last week, but either forgot/didn't get around to it was
about the TABD.  I was in Cincinnati protesting the TABD (and capitalism)
last week, just had a query if there were any electronic actions around
the protests.  I remember there was quite a bit talked
about/mentioned/discussed on this flow list a year ago during the WTO
protests, and this is in the same issue area of corporate globalization
and free trade.

   ryan

Just because I'm vegan doesn't mean I won't kill you.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 25 Nov 2000 00:59:58 -0500
From: Paul Lefrak <lefrak@bellsouth.net>
To: freemumia <free.mumia@umich.edu>
Subject: Fw: [fla-left-NEWS] [labor] Amazon.com Workers Begin Union Drive


----- Original Message -----
From: <reporter2@mpinet.net>
To: <floridaleft@egroups.com>
Cc: <floridaleft-news@egroups.com>
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2000 4:32 AM
Subject: [fla-left-NEWS] [labor] Amazon.com Workers Begin Union Drive


> [Moderator's Note: Don't buy from Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble or
> Borders. Always purchase your new books from independent book stores
> or from the publishers if possible; many small, non-mainstream
> publishers, like AK Press, sell directly to the public. Or wait
> until you find it in the used book store or thrift store. Or
> patronize the public library.]
>
> November 16, 2000, 6:51 PM PST
>
> Amazon.com Workers Begin Union Drive
>
http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/yahoo_finance/0,1151,20273,00.htm
l?pa
> rtner=yahoo_finance
>
> The e-retailing giant may be part of the new economy, but it now
> faces an old-economy problem as employees complain about low wages
> and forced overtime.
>
> By Miguel Helft
>
> Customer service workers at Amazon.com's (AMZN) Seattle headquarters
> have started a drive to form a union.
>
> The workers hope to gather support from a majority of the 400 or so
> customer service representatives in Seattle. They hope to obtain
> union recognition and eventually a collective bargaining agreement.
>
> Assisting the Amazon workers in their efforts is the Washington
> Alliance of Technology Workers, or WashTech. That group, a Seattle
> affiliate of the Communication Workers of America, gained notoriety
> during the 1990s for leading - and winning - several labor fights
> against Microsoft (MSFT) .
>
> With the holiday shopping season ramping up, the unionizing drive
> couldn't come at a worse time for Amazon. What's more, the drive
> also comes at a time when Amazon is under intense scrutiny. The
> company's prospects have been the subject of heated debate on Wall
> Street, its shares have taken a beating and its performance during
> this holiday season is seen as particularly critical.
>
> The organizing workers have grievances on issues ranging from job
> security and low wages to mandatory overtime, according to Marcus
> Courtney, co-founder of WashTech.
>
> "They are very concerned about the continued expansion of customer
> service jobs in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and the outsourcing of
> jobs to India," Courtney said. "When it comes to issues of how the
> department is run, they have no effective voice. And they have
> enormous amounts of forced mandatory overtime during the holidays."
>
> Amazon, for its part, maintains that a union is not necessary.
>
> "Unions certainly have a role in society, but we don't feel they are
> needed at Amazon, where everyone is an owner and can exercise their
> rights to raise workplace issues or concerns at any time," said
> Patty Smith, an Amazon spokeswoman. Smith said unionizing drives
> have been attempted twice before, but failed each time to gain
> enough support.
>
> Amazon will hold several "all hands" meetings in its customer
> service center throughout the day Friday to discuss the unionization
> effort, Smith said.
>
> "It is an opportunity for everybody to ask questions," she added.
>
> Nancy Becker, 35, who has worked for Amazon for two and a half
> years, says that during the holidays customer service employees have
> been asked to work as much as 50 hours per week.
>
> "If we are unable to meet that, our benefits get docked," says
> Becker, a single mother categorized as a second-tier customer
> service representative at the online retailing giant.
>
> Smith said Amazon has been requiring mandatory overtime for a group
> of about 50 workers for the past two weeks, and has had brief
> periods of mandatory overtime this past summer and last year during
> the holidays.
>
> If the unionizing effort gains support and publicity this time
> around, it could hurt sales. At the very least, the situation could
> turn into a public-relations nightmare for the company.
>
> "What makes this truly significant," Courtney says, "is that it
> shatters the myth that high-tech workers in the new economy are not
> interested in representation on the job and that unions are
> irrelevant in the 21st century."
>
> ____________________________
>
> Tuesday November 21, 10:15 pm Eastern Time
>
> TheStandard.com Amazon Workers' Season of Discontent
>
> By Miguel Helft
>
> Union organizers turned up the heat on Amazon.com on Tuesday,
> launching a campaign they say is aimed at improving wages and
> working conditions at Amazon's distribution centers.
>
> The worldwide campaign, backed by the Prewitt Organizing Fund, an
> independent union-recruiting group based in Washington, D.C., is
> seeking union representation for some 5,000 workers in Amazon's
> distribution centers throughout the U.S., as well as in France and
> Germany. The agitating comes just days after the Seattle-based
> Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, or WashTech, launched an
> effort to organize some 400 customer-service workers at the
> company's Seattle headquarters.
>
> The campaigns are designed to coincide with Amazon's holiday season,
> which is the online retailer's busiest time. They also come at a
> time when the company's performance is under intense scrutiny from
> Wall Street.
>
> Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos maintains that while unions have a role in
> society, they are not needed at Amazon.
>
> "Everyone is an owner," he said, referring to Amazon's
> stock-ownership program for employees during a visit to the
> company's distribution center in Fernley, Nev. Bezos also said
> Amazon employees are given opportunities to bring up grievances with
> management.
>
> But with Amazon shares trading at less than half of the company's
> highs, union organizers are referring to the Amazon's stock-purchase
> plan as a "stock scam" and are demanding higher wages. The
> organizers also are complaining about forced overtime, a mandate to
> work on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and what they say are costly
> family benefits.
>
> Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said the kind of debate going within
> the company is not unusual. "We don't see how a union would benefit
> our employees and customers," Smith says. "But obviously it is up to
> our employees to determine what is right for them."
>
> The Prewitt fund says it has been meeting with Amazon workers at
> various distribution centers since May. Many workers, said Duane
> Stillwell, a spokesman for Prewitt, are ready to support a "call for
> fairness."
>
> "Bezos has to make a choice between doing the right thing and taking
> care of these workers into the future, or he can watch between now
> and the holidays and determine whether these workers are ready to
> move to force him to do the right thing."
>
> For his part, Bezos said Friday that the organizing campaign would
> not derail holiday work. "I am not concerned at all that it will
> disrupt the holidays," he said.
>
> During Friday's meeting, Bezos addressed some 200 workers at the
> Fernley warehouse with the enthusiasm and fervor of a TV evangelist.
> The workers, gathered in a semicircle around Bezos, repeatedly
> interrupted him with cheers and applause.
>
> If there was any discontent among the group, it certainly was not
> apparent. Several workers were wearing Amazon T-shirts, and when
> asked who was a veteran of last year's holidays, many of them
> proudly raised their hands. Several workers also asked Bezos to sign
> the back of their shirts - to which Bezos immediately agreed.
>
> "We have to have the worker support, and that is an open question
> right now," Stillman acknowledges. "There are workers who come out
> of factories. This is a good job for them. But [Amazon] can do
> better."
>
> Amazon has responded to the organizing drive by holding meetings
> with workers in Seattle and at some of its distribution centers.
> Meanwhile, a union organizing group held a press conference in front
> of Amazon's distribution center outside Paris on Tuesday. A similar
> group plans an event for Wednesday in Germany.
>
> Organizers say they are targeting Amazon because of the company's
> stature as a model for online retailing.
>
> "However Amazon goes in the industry," Stillwell says, "conditions
> go in the e-tailing industry."
>


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