It doesn't matter if there's a union or not. It matters what actually is being done. From the news it seems that Amazon has been consistently improving conditions of its warehouse employees. For example, making the minimum wage $15/hour.

Even if unions are affecting no change, their are able to give the workers at least some power.

Who knows, maybe they'll make Amazon to allow unmetered bathroom breaks one day.

Bathroom breaks aren't metered in Amazon warehouses.

Besides using your own break time to go, they are absolutely metered for many direct roles in the exact sense that using the restroom can decrease your speed performance metrics which can lead to progressive coaching or other negative consequences.

It literally is considered time off task (TOT) when you stop for a restroom break outside of your scheduled break times.

There is always the option for people with increased medical restroom needs to seek specific accommodations to essentially excuse the TOT for their needs.

Maybe there’s a confusion of terms here, because I think everything you’re saying is what it means for a bathroom break to be unmetered. You can go to the restroom whenever you’d like, as long as you’re getting the work done. If you had specific declared bathroom breaks where the company keeps count and pauses performance metrics for the duration, that’s what I’d call metered breaks.

They’ve been getting injured at a higher rate since Amazon introduced robots to the warehouses and Amazon tries to limit their access to healthcare to avoid workers comp claims. This is definitely something a union would address.

Sometime during the last year the usually heavily statist left became heavily corporatist. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Based on purely anecdotal evidence, I agree. I've seen an increased number of supposed "eat the rich" types voicing support for corporate interests, to an almost laughable degree of irony. For instance, Twitter users who have "#eattherich" in their bio saying that social media should be left unregulated because the owners of the platforms should be able to do whatever they want with it.

The way I see it is that among those, they haven't actually been able to form a leftist worldview free of economic liberalism. It's normal, because modern opposing alternatives are basically completely absent from the mainstream.

> haven't actually been able to form a leftist worldview free of economic liberalism

Very good point! I did not think of this at all. Perhaps the collapse of the Soviet Union discredited the planned economy as means of social equalization and they never quite regained their footing.

There is actually a lot more to non-liberal economics than planned economies, but certainly the collapse of the Soviet Union would play a part in it.

If I had to analyze the root cause of it though, I'd say the proximate cause really is Cultural Hegemony. Pretty much every piece of media and every interaction you have assumes liberal economics so much that it is very hard to even realize that you are working within that framework. An unknown known, kinda.

Because leftists became liberal centrists as the left was thoroughly destroyed during the 70s-90s.

This process was, ironically, only made possible by the destruction of unions which were the most important leftist institution.

To this point - Lately I've found myself arguing for Medicare for All from the "right", against e.g. classifying gig workers as employees so they get corporate benefits from the "left".

In a universe where public social programs are impossible; I find many of these corporatist-redistributionist arguments sort of interesting. But in this one; I really do think we should tax corporations more and fund State programs.

If everyone has medicare for all and eviction protections; do we still care whether amazon can fire a worker from a warehouse?

Likewise UBI has both a left-wing and a right-wing appeal.

I think MFA is not entirely antithetical to the right ideology and could be over time incorporated - it improves labor mobility which is in line with core right values (freedom of association and participation provides better free market outcomes and more self-sufficiency). It’s just at any point in time it’s too convenient to crap on it for cheap points. A local optimum of negative variety.

The harsh truth is that RSUs stand higher in the list of priorities, than other people's problems.

RSUs are an effective way for workers to get a better chunk of the actual value they create.

The negotiating power of unions is another.

Honest question: does the Democratic Party care about labor anymore? It feels like anti-Trumpism, identity issues (race, trans issues, etc.), and immigration have sucked all the oxygen out of the room. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Democrat run with supporting labor as their headline issue.

I rather thought that the function of these other issues was to suck the oxygen out of the room so they didn't have to talk about labor issues. Their donors tend to be wealthy and anti-union.

Generally the point of most social wedge issues from the point of view of the moneyed and political elite is to not have to talk about any kind of economic issues that affect the bulk of society, yes.

And also to divide the working class vote. Could you imagine how progressive this country could be if the working poor was united and consistently voted in line with their economic interests? FDRs ghost would be dancing in the street.

The Democratic Party is too large of an umbrella these days. Anybody whose primary concerns are among fiscal responsibility/the deficit, public education, effective foreign policy, civil rights, human rights, political corruption, science based public health/policy, climate change, domestic extremism, an independent judiciary etc. has moved into the democratic party.

The Republican Party is for people whose primary concern is one of a theocratic judiciary, paying less taxes if you make more than $400k/yr, white nationalism, extractive industries, military contractors, unrestricted access to any/all classes of firearms.

In both of those groups there are large pro-business, anti-labor contingents.

Hopefully one day we will move to ranked choice voting and other mechanisms that allow 3rd parties to compete and we can have more meaningful and direct connections between parties and specific policies instead of these two loose coalitions.

Have you ever talked to a single Republican? You’re way off base, especially with the race baiting.

Yes, many. I'm not saying that all Republicans are all of those things, just that those are the coalitions that make up the current Republican Party.

Did I miss a Republican Party coalition from my list?

But this is also I reason why I think ranked-choice voting is so compelling. I've met Republicans who essentially only vote Republican because they want to defend their 2nd amendment right but otherwise would be much more likely to support left-wing economic causes. But the way policies are bundled in our two parties they are forced to vote according to their primary concern.

Likewise there are a lot of working class Christians who would be strong allies in a labor movement but if that movement is inextricably linked to a pro-choice party it is a non-starter for them.

Entirely anecdotal, of course, but several of my republican relatives (big family) moved to Idaho a year and change ago -- shortly before the covid era.

The last family gathering we all had together, pre-covid thanksgiving, they all spent much of the time telling me how I had to "be afraid" of Mexicans and Arabs for a variety of reasons. I'm kind of dumb in social situations and kind of polite so I just stood there entirely unsure how I should even respond to that.

have I talked to a single republican? I've talked to several that I'd known all my life, who all came out with the race baiting stuff.

What do you view the Republican platform as being? What specifically is he wrong about?

OP is wrong about unrestricted access to all weapons. And not all Republicans are anti-abortion, although that is a big part of their platform due to the control it gives over evangelicals. (That is to say, I think if there is a schism, the more centric version of the party would not be anti-abortion.)

Also, white nationalism is only embraced by a small percentage of the party. It's not really part of their platform, it's just what the loudest shouters in the party want.

(Disclaimer: I do not identify as repbulican, but if this is your best faith effort to define their platform, you lack empathy for them which means you'll never understand even their lucid ideas. Granted, many of their ideas are vague and not lucid.)

> whose primary concern is one of...

I'm not saying that all Republicans are white nationalist and anti-abortion but I haven't met a Republican whose primary political concern wasn't one of the issues I listed.

And everybody I've met whose primary issue is one of those that I listed has been Republican.

The vast majority of my extended family, whom I love, is Republican. There isn't some great mystery to understanding their political motivations.

You left out climate. In NW Europe it is no different : anything goes as long as it not labor.

As far as I know they very much do support labor issues, they just haven't been as much of the flavor of the month lately due to the headlines of racial, transgender, and other related political issues since those usually garner more views in the media.

Part of the reason may be that the divide between Democrats and Republicans is much wider on those issues vs labor issues.

Obamacare got a lot of workers at places like amazon warehouses healthcare.

Cancelling student debt will help a shit tonne more workers.

He has a section on his campaign website addressing Union specifics:

https://joebiden.com/empowerworkers/

Well see what he can actually does, but with the senate in democrat hands, the sky is the limit.

"Cancelling student debt will help a shit tonne more workers."

I will feel terrible if that ever happens for folks that were smart with money and didn't incur tons of debt. It's gonna be a real bummer when you learn that you paid off your educational debt or never had any and that now you get to pay off debt of others that made bad decisions.

I, as someone with no outstanding student debts anymore, would be ecstatic to have universal student loan forgiveness. It is the right thing to do, and part of being a conscientious citizen is advocating for issues that help society, even if they don't help yourself.

Have you considered reaching out to some students or grads with debt and writing them a check to help them pay off their debt?

You're describing me.

I agree emotionally. But that's life, if you actually believe in education you can only really pay if forwards...

What a shitty attitude.

"bad decisions"

Imagine thinking that earning a degree was a "bad decision".

There are a lot of liberal/leftist communities online with that same gripe. Democrats pander to "pop politics" but have no plans for labor reform, healthcare reform, etc. that would go a long ways to helping the majority of the people in this country.

It's all theater.

> I can’t remember the last time I saw a Democrat run with supporting labor as their headline issue.

Bernie Sanders and AOC would like a word. Most of their platform is based around supporting the working class.

You arent aloud to say this!

On the off chance you're serious, here's Biden's union stance https://joebiden.com/empowerworkers/.

Actions > Words

Why would you think any of us think that?

Well, let's see some solidarity with the warehouse rank and file to prove it.