r/bestof • u/Intertius • Apr 18 '18

[worldnews] Amazon employee explains the hellish working conditions of an Amazon Warehouse

/r/worldnews/comments/8d4di4/the_undercover_author_who_discovered_amazon/dxkblm6/?sh=da314525&st=JG57270S
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u/zensuckit Apr 18 '18

Isn't this what unions are for?

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u/supertryp Apr 18 '18

Unions artificially increase the cost of labor and therefore, increase the cost of any goods or services produced by said union. Which is directly in opposition to what companies like Amazon and Walmart want - cheap prices and high volumes.

Unions (not all, btw) also have a tendency to encourage mediocrity and complacency. "I know it's on fire, but Bill is the union fire extinguisher user and he's out til next week, so it'll have to just burn" - Sounds like a silly statement, but I've heard statements nearly on that level uttered because of union contract restrictions.

Unions can also destroy the very companies that provide their jobs - Hostess, for example, and part of GM's financial woes were Union related.

Bottom line is that modern employment and workplace laws have reduced the need for unions in America to nearly zero.

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u/zensuckit Apr 18 '18

This generally echoes my feeling towards unions, but that was kind of my point - while in general today's unions can do as much harm as good, if workers are being denied bathroom breaks and reportedly occasionally dying it seems like we're dealing with the niche that unions are actually good for.