Praise the Workers, Not Amazon

Details: Published on Tuesday, 16 October 2018 19:58; Written by editor

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A Socialist Project e-bulletin ... No. 1687 ... October 17, 2018
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Praise the Workers, Not Amazon

Jonathan Rosenblum

"Power concedes nothing without a demand," abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass declared 161 years ago.

Last week saw that truth on broad display as Amazon, facing growing political and organizing pressure, announced it was setting a minimum wage of $15/hour for its U.S. workforce and also raising wages in England.

The company’s declaration followed months of mounting bad publicity for Amazon. U.S. workers have been speaking out in greater numbers about the punishing pace of work, high injury rates, and a plantation mentality on the warehouse floor. A British journalist went undercover at Amazon and wrote a book describing workers forced to pee in bottles and extraordinarily high rates of depression. (Ironically, Hired: Six Months Undercover in... Low-Wage Britain is selling remarkably well on the Amazon site.)

Amazon workers in Germany, Poland, and Spain struck on Amazon’s Prime Day in June, protesting appalling working conditions.

Back in the USA, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) went after the company for paying such poor wages that much of its workforce is dependent on public benefits like food stamps, housing subsidies, and Medicaid.

And Amazon’s wage concession followed continued high-visibility mobilizations by Fight for $15 against McDonald’s and other corporate targets.