Employees At Amazon's New NYC Warehouse Launch Union Push

[appalachiablue]

Source: Bloomberg

By Josh Eidelson, 8 hrs. ago. (Bloomberg) -- A committee of employees at Amazon's recently opened Staten Island fulfillment center is going public with a unionization campaign, a fresh challenge to the e-commerce giant in a city where it plans to build a major new campus.

Labor unrest is the latest complication in Amazon's plan to invest $2.5 billion and hire 25,000 people in the city over the next 15 years. Several New York City politicians who were shut out of negotiations handled by the governor and mayor have raised objections to a new office park in Queens that threatens to overload mass transit and drive up rents in an already expensive housing market.

Now workers in a another borough are saying the company treats them like robots and should be focused on improving conditions there rather than raking in tax breaks to build a new headquarters.

The union they're working with sees the up to $3 billion in incentives offered to bring an Amazon office campus to Long Island City as leverage to prevent the company from retaliating against them for organizing. -MORE...


Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/employees-at-amazons-new-nyc-warehouse-launch-union-push/ar-BBQPy1n?ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

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In recent interviews, Amazon employees supporting unionization said warehouse work issues involve safety concerns, inadequate pay, and 12-hour shifts with insufficient breaks and unreasonable hourly quotas. Employees also lose more of their day waiting unpaid in long lines, for security checks.
"They talk to you like you're nothing -- all they care about is their numbers," said Rashad Long, who makes $18.60 an hour and commutes four hours a day to work at the warehouse. "They talk to you like you're a robot."

Amazon employees are working with RWDSU, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union which has also backed efforts to unionize at the Whole Foods grocery chain purchased by Amazon last year. The workforce at Amazon is union-free throughout the U.S. “There’s never been greater leverage -- if taxpayers are giving Amazon $3 billion, then taxpayers have the right to demand that Amazon stop being a union-busting company,” said RWDSU’s president, Stuart Appelbaum.

[elmac]

1. good for them, hope they get it, nt

[Marie Marie]

2. I hope they win and that it opens the door for unionization of the rest of their facilities.

[appalachiablue]

4. Absolutely workers deserve benefits & security, it's essential.

[tonekat]

3. Good, In the current climate

...they'd be crazy not to.

[iluvtennis]

5. Union...yay!

[BigmanPigman]

6. UNION!

It's not just good for Norma Rae, it is good for all workers.

I was harassed at Macy's for trying to start a union and later became a teacher (one reason was due to their union) and union rep at my school. I was harassed by every single administrator for my entire career. They never broke my spirit though!

[lunatica]

7. As a retired member of the Teamsters I support their unionizing efforts

If they ask me to stop shopping on Amazon I will do so. As it is if I continue to shop there I am supporting their jobs. I want to see the employees of Amazon having worthy jobs, benefits and a good retirement plan.

[PatrickforO]

8. Good.

Now, let's hope the union reps will take the time to actually get to know the people they represent so the union can be effective. Too many people are down on unions because they never really see what the union does for them. It's a PR thing that unions have failed with for about a generation now.

[czarjak]

9. Power to the people...

People!!!!!!!