Re:Convenience Is Destroying Us
by jl6 on Friday April 02, 2021 @01:16PM
(#26673479)
Maybe it’s my privilege speaking but I never understood what’s so uniquely horrible about Amazon warehouse work that isn’t also found in numerous other menial jobs. We have lots of labor laws designed to prevent various abuses. What’s the new abuse here?
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Because they employ so many people, in so many jurisdictions .. they obviously hold a huge amount of power.
How should we respond to that power?
I think Amazon is in danger of legitimising arguably exploitative working practices, if they aren't challenged when people aren't considered as much as profit.
I don’t think Amazon has the power to legitimize it, they, and the gig economy if anything brought this more to the limelight.
Before this those people tended to be more invisible.
Re:Convenience Is Destroying Us
by readflaggedcomm on Friday April 02, 2021 @01:25PM
(#26673588)
What's new is widespread participation in this oppression. Every buy from Amazon is another wage theft.
But fruit picking is a much worse job and everybody participates in fruit eating.
There were protests about fruit pickers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delano_grape_strike
It's still a bad job, and now it's deeply entangled with illegal immigration. That makes it hard to make it visible.
Amazon pushes the limits of the law a bit less, because its workers aren't migrants. But because they're not migrants it's easier to focus on them.
Famous last words while clicking 'Order now' on the Amazon website.
I haven't ordered from Amazon in 2 years. It is a lot easier than I thought it was going to be, though I understand it might not be easy for everyone.
Re:Convenience Is Destroying Us
by readflaggedcomm on Friday April 02, 2021 @06:28PM
(#26676626)
Is this the bad reaction to my comment, you think I'm a hypocrite?
It was sarcasm but do you use Amazon? I do think that it's hypocritical for people to actually be a customer while on the other hand participate in popular culture by throwing big words like oppression around.