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Thread: Amazon and the union vote
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03-30-2021, 08:13 AM #1Veteran Poster
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Amazon and the union vote
I am surprised we haven’t heard much on this. Seems like a big deal. Amazon, with all the thousands of laborers, deciding to organize and vote on a union. From what I read, Amazon was against this at first, but now seems to be on board.
A few things came to mind. Bezos, the beloved lefty, is caught in the middle. He is admired by the left, but wants to run his business like he is on the right. So what to do. No piss off the cancel crowd. But also keep his business profitable.
Here are my thoughts. It reminded me on a documentary I watched last year. Talking about AI. And how some warehouses have been able to add automation to make things more efficient. In return, it has eliminated some jobs. In this particular documentary, they focuses on Amazon and mentioned that Amazon plans to practically eliminate all warehouse laborers in 10 years and have them replaced with robots.
As I read more about Amazon. It became clear that bezos is a smart man. He knows that most cancel culture crowd, only read headlines. This points to the next example. Amazon gets credit for having a $15 wage (they call it a minimum wage, but it is really just for show). But when you read back to some articles during the wage increase, you find that the smart workers knew what was happening. Wages increased from $12-$15. But in return, they lose all bonus opportunities. Yes, bezos used to pay on performance. Now he pays a flat rate. And he saved a ton of money. Prior to the wage increase, all workers would get 2 shares of stock to start and one share each year. Stock was trading at $1800 at the time (it is now $3000 and has a 12 month price target of $4200)
So each employee at the time was given $3600 in stock and another $1800 each year. Gone now.
They also had productivity incentives that averaged 8% monthly, and up to 16% durning peak seasonal time. Employees are claiming they are making about $3000 less per year.
So back to the union push. Bezos is a smart man. He is on board with unions, knowing he is already paying a wage that the gov is pushing for. And unions base pay on the min wage. Bezos also knows that technology is phasing humans out of these union positions. So I am thinking he is waging on a small premium for a few years, as he phases out most of the union jobs.
The sad part, is the working union bee, thinks he is winning.
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03-30-2021, 08:48 AM #2
Re: Amazon and the union vote
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Re: Amazon and the union vote
Jeff bezos is playing the lefties like a fiddle. Very smart man indeed. Interesting to see Elon Musk on the other hand shift towards the Libertarian right and adopting bitcoin since the pandemic started.
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03-30-2021, 09:20 AM #4
Re: Amazon and the union vote
The working union bee always thinks they are winning, but rarely, if ever are.
Amazon will raise prices to cover the added expense, increase automaton and phase out Juan labor exactly as you suggest. A friend of a friend manages a few hundred robots in a NJ warehouse already...
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03-30-2021, 09:52 AM #5
Re: Amazon and the union vote
This is why the working union bee is a worker bee and why Bezos is the queen bee.
The worker bee most of the time doesn't see past the end of his/her nose. It's hand to mouth.
Bezos is smart. Calculating. A visionary. A man who has spent a career taking risks that pay off big. He's doing it again - you have laid it out quite nicely.
And why government schmucks, the "progressive" idiots that wave $15 minimum wage to the lemmings - are where they are. They know what appeals to the worker bee, the ones that keep them in power. Staying in power is all they care about.
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03-30-2021, 10:18 AM #6Veteran Poster
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03-30-2021, 10:22 AM #7Veteran Poster
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Re: Amazon and the union vote
I don’t think Amazon will raise prices that way the worker bee see it. It’s not like they won’t be competitive with pricing. They will increase membership fees. (It was $59 when I first joined).
Bezos will invest in robots knowing he won’t have a big labor cost in the future.
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03-30-2021, 10:50 AM #8Legendary RSR Poster
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03-30-2021, 10:56 AM #9Veteran Poster
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Re: Amazon and the union vote
Interesting. A headline just popped up. “Amazon losses fight to install cameras to watch counting of ballots for union vote “
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03-30-2021, 01:17 PM #10Pro Bowl Poster
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03-31-2021, 12:14 AM #11Legendary RSR Poster
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04-01-2021, 10:54 AM #12Veteran Poster
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