A few days ago the teamsters voted to attempt to unionize amazon
The union vote failed about 2-1 in Alabama for Amazon, but workers in a deeply conservative state would I’m guessing never vote for a union no matter what.
The teamsters have many more members, much more funds, and much more experience organizing though, and supposedly will do a better job of getting a union. Also I would assume/hope they start in geographic areas where the general public are not as anti-Union as the deep south.
They could do it.
I’m a member of the BLET, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. We are part of the Teamsters union. Between us and the truckers we move all the freight in the country. If they wanted to push it, that would mean no goods at your local store. We’ve already seen how fast the supply chain breaks down.
We could break Amazon if they organize everyone on this task.
didn’t the Taft Hartley act prohibit unions from sympathetic strikes?
i don’t know how that’s legal but can the teamsters just do a trucking strike to. unionize Amazon?
Yes it is extremely hard for us on the railroad to actually strike, but there are other methods. Combine that with what the truckers can do and Amazon could be forced to deal really quick.
What if the Amazon employees’ don’t want to unionize again?
My understanding was that they were fed disinformation from Amazon on social media and the like, and Amazon had deep pockets to pay off politicians. The union that they were considering joining was small and couldn’t get their message out. It was the RWDSU was weak, not the workers desire to be unionized.
The Teamsters have a huge budget and can counter act that and put their vision of what the benefits of being in a union are on all the media and deal with the politicians.
I hope they succeed.
Without the employer staying neutral, it’s really hard to organize a company this size (or, tbh, any size). Neutrality agreements are hard to come by, however. About a decade ago, there was a push to have card check become a standard way to vote on union (EFCA) campaigns, but imo, that’s worthless (and can actually be harder to achieve) without employer neutrality.
And if they did that, they should be classifed as terrorists sabotaging the national infrastructure and treated appropriately.
Yeah I don’t think so. Ever hear of work to rule, among other tactics? All totally legal .
I take offense that you would call union men terrorists for using the few means they have to fight back these corporations.
how does choosing to not go to work make you a terrorist?
The last organization anyone should support is the notoriously corrupt and mobbed up Teamsters.
Yes. In January of this year, Teamsters Local 202, which represents (among other workers) something ng like 1,500 workers at the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx, New York, which is where pretty much all the vegetables and fruit that feed NYC come into the city, went out on strike.
One important turning point in the strike was when a train bringing produce to the market turned around after the engineer, also a Teamster (although not from Local 202), refused to cross the picket line.
The strike was settled a couple of days later.
Unions acting in solidarity isn’t “terrorism.”
Lemme look at the “huge budget” that the Teamsters supposedly have.
Teamsters are funded by dues from their membership, typically 3-4% of the gross of each workers paycheck.
So the Teamsters have 3-4% of pay of the portion of the workforce that is unionized at a given company.
Amazon & Jeff Bezos have all the profits they have made after already paying the workforce.
Which do you think is larger?
In 2016, Teamsters reported revenue of $185,878,045, expenses totaling $154,739,907 and assets worth $284,074,904. Cite.
Jeff Bezos alone, meanwhile, makes more than $9,000,000 per hour.
There is no equivalence in resources or power here.
It’s not just money.
Imagine if the Teamsters did get fully on board with unionization efforts at Amazon.
Imagine if the International Longshoremen’s Association got on board.
Imagine them just embargoing Amazon warehouses.
One can dream…
of the death of unions in the United States.
Any union action to completely shut down Amazon would end up with unions banned in every red state and their powers broken in most purple states.
Yeah, I know, when America becomes great again, the working man will be free to negotiate his compensation and working conditions, as an individual, on his own, with his employer. And maybe even buy his groceries at the company store.
Tell me, why is it just fine, why is it the American way, for the owners of a corporation to organize, to form a board of directors, to hire lawyers and consultants, to dictate terms to low-level employees, but when working people do exactly the same thing, and organize, form an organization to represent them, hire lawyers and consultants, and try to negotiate from a position of relative strength, it’s a bad, bad thing, a thing one dreams of the end of?
I believe you misunderstood me. I was saying your dream of the Teamsters and Longshoremen embargoing Amazon is a dream of the end of unions.
There is a lot more love in the US for Amazon then there is for teamsters and longshoremen and people will happily break them to ensure they get their two day delivery. Once those two go down the red states and purple states will gut the rest of unions quickly.
If any company can 100% automate, it will be Amazon. They already deploy robots as extensively as the technology allows. Labor is just a cost to them. Once pick-and-pack robots are cheaper than people, there won’t be any people in the warehouse. And Amazon has always thought long-term. They went without distributing profits for years so they could reinvest and keep expanding. I could see Bezos going to 100% robotic warehouses now no matter the cost in order to eliminate any chance unionized workers could ensure that people will always be in the warehouses.