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I work warehouse. So firstly, solidarity with these guys.
...I had a colleague complaining about these guys when they were on strike a few months back. He couldn't comprehend that if these guys get some concessions back from Amazon, that it improves things for the rest of us.
Suddenly maybe taking the Amazon warehouse job makes sense, maybe my current employer finds it harder to get staff...maybe they then have to also improve working conditions for their staff.
That's the hope - it gets a foot in the door for everyone else. I wish them luck.
Good, amazon needs to be taken down a peg
In response to a request for comment, Amazon UK Country Manager John Boumphrey said the company offered competitive wages and benefits.
'Competitive wages' translates to 'shite to mediocre.' Maybe they should force him to work in a warehouse for a year and see how he feels after that.
Competitive = the lowest we could conceivably offer.
They do generally have competitive wages compared to other warehouse work. Around here they pay almost double what warehouse workers would make at a regular non-Amazon warehouse. Wages are typically pretty poor for warehouse work in general though.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
LONDON, Oct 10 (Reuters) - More than 1,000 workers at an Amazon (AMZN.O) warehouse in Britain will strike for four days next month, including on the typically busy Black Friday shopping day, the GMB trade union said on Tuesday.
GMB said the workers would walk out of the site in Coventry, central England from Nov. 7-9, as well as on Nov. 24, Black Friday, in a long-running dispute over pay which has resulted in multiple walk-outs so far this year.
In response to a request for comment, Amazon UK Country Manager John Boumphrey said the company offered competitive wages and benefits.
The original article contains 101 words, the summary contains 101 words. Saved 0%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Isn't black Friday an American thing?
Originally, yes. However, the sale hype overflowed into Europe a few years back. Ultimately nobody minds, it's not about the holiday after all. Shops get to make fire sales and customers get deals and that's all that matters. It's just a convenient oppurtunity to make huge sales and benefit from the hype that is already made in America about it.
Everyone's connected thanks to the internet and people in Europe are more aware of things like Black Friday thanks to that.
USA is the trend setter of the world when it comes to selling garbage from China at seemingly low prices around any holiday or special event.
But black Friday is a little generic... The end of November is approximately when most retail businesses go from "red" to "black" financially... That is the financially black day is the first day of the year when every sale from that point is 100% profit... All debts and liabilities for the year are covered.
Not anymore. I assume Amazon now run it in all their stores.
It got very newsworthy in the UK a few years back when people lost their shit over the deals and we're fighting each in supermarkets over cheap tellies.
The article seems a bit light on details. Do we know how much Amazon warehouse workers get in comparison to non Amazon warehouse workers?
All credit to them for sticking it to their employer in the busiest days of the year. That will get them heard for sure. I'm just interested in what changes they want to see as a result because I've heard mixed stories from various friends.
It doesn't really matter how much non-Amazon warehouse workers get. If you're exploited, you're exploited and this doesn't depend on the working conditions of other people in the industry.
It applies to all aspects of life. It should always be "am I treated fairly" not "am I treated better than others".
OK. How are they being exploited? I simply don't know from the article. Can you explain?
I know it's a long shot from me, but Amazon is known for exploitative practices. But if you're paid so badly that protest is your only option then yeah you're being subject to exploitation.
TIL Amazon can prevent people from getting a different job.
I've heard that too. I've heard the stories about toilet breaks in the US and what not. I'm not disputing that. I just wanted to understand why this strike is happening. Miscellaneous exploitative practices doesn't seem very specific.
Maybe I'm asking the wrong forum for this information maybe nobody knows. That's cool. I hoped to learn that "Amazon aren't doing X and we want them to do Y otherwise we strike".
No one is exploited.