Amazon Labor Union Vote

#26
#26
volinbham said:
Curious if you've ever worked in a union or as a non-union member in an organization with at least one union?

I've done both and it was the biggest productivity and motivation killer I've ever seen.
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Contradictory to his post, my first supervisory job post undergrad was in a union shop. We worked 6-7 days a week for the 3 years straight. 12 hours a day m-F. I guess they missed the memo on unions giving me my weekend.
 
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#27
#27
From my days at ORNL/X-10 a new computer for your office was delivered by one group, unboxed and place on your desk by another group and hooked up/started by a third. Doing any of these yourself would result in a grievance. Moving any of your office furniture around without putting in a request for someone else to do it would result in a grievance. Emptying your own trash would result in a grievance.
 
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#28
#28
volinbham said:
From my days at ORNL/X-10 a new computer for your office was delivered by one group, unboxed and place on your desk by another group and hooked up/started by a third. Doing any of these yourself would result in a grievance. Moving any of your office furniture around without putting in a request for someone else to do it would result in a grievance. Emptying your own trash would result in a grievance.
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Probably at least 12 breaks taken during that time as well.
 
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#29
#29
volinbham said:
Might explain why Bezo's is backing Biden's tax plan. Amazon ain't gonna pay it anyway and gotta keep the heat off.
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If Bezos is backing anything it's because he's already figured out a way around it and knows how it will hurt any competition. He wasn't some good hearted soul when he decided to pay $15/hr
 
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#30
#30
Grand Vol said:
Probably at least 12 breaks taken during that time as well.
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the mail was delivered by carts that travelled by themselves - I'm pretty sure the carts were in a union too.

there was a strike by multiple unions while I was there - in particular the custodial and the office furniture movers. some of the secretaries signed up to handle custodial duties for pay during the strike - cleanest the place ever was.

the amount of office rearranging during that time was staggering - everyone was free to move it themselves.
 
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#33
#33
volinbham said:
the mail was delivered by carts that travelled by themselves - I'm pretty sure the carts were in a union too.

there was a strike by multiple unions while I was there - in particular the custodial and the office furniture movers. some of the secretaries signed up to handle custodial duties for pay during the strike - cleanest the place ever was.

the amount of office rearranging during that time was staggering - everyone was free to move it themselves.
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Sounds like a very efficiently run government agency...
 
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#37
#37
I went through Rockford this week and discovered that the old Pine Lakes golf course had been bulldozed for a new Amazon distribution center. They’ll own just about everything before long.
 
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#39
#39
volinbham said:
From my days at ORNL/X-10 a new computer for your office was delivered by one group, unboxed and place on your desk by another group and hooked up/started by a third. Doing any of these yourself would result in a grievance. Moving any of your office furniture around without putting in a request for someone else to do it would result in a grievance. Emptying your own trash would result in a grievance.
Click to expand...
I remember when Hostess went under, one of the issues they had was the union contracts. There was a teamsters union for the drivers and a warehouse union for the guys that unloaded the trucks. So drivers weren't allowed to unload their own trucks at stores, there had to be two men to do one man's job. And both sat and did nothing while the other worked. Then they wondered why their job disappeared.
 
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#41
#41
DancingOutlaw said:
I remember when Hostess went under, one of the issues they had was the union contracts. There was a teamsters union for the drivers and a warehouse union for the guys that unloaded the trucks. So drivers weren't allowed to unload their own trucks at stores, there had to be two men to do one man's job. And both sat and did nothing while the other worked. Then they wondered why their job disappeared.
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Yep, that's a union. Soak companies
 
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#42
#42
volinbham said:
Curious if you've ever worked in a union or as a non-union member in an organization with at least one union?

I've done both and it was the biggest productivity and motivation killer I've ever seen.
Click to expand...

We built a system to be installed in a nuclear plant. I verified the cabinet they used and bought an identical one so we had all the rack positions set, cable sets measured and cut to length, etc. - basically a fully functioning system in our shop to transfer from one box to another. It was only a little more difficult than assembling Legos, and a couple of us were there for the installation and testing. The day shift union crew spent the entire day with our supervision and guidance and never completed a two hour job. The evening crew came on and let us do the work - nobody around to check up on them and they didn't have to do anything. We had it up and running in maybe three hours including the times that we had to accompany them to the break room - where we got to hear all the other guys complain about their jobs and how the company always screwed them over. BTW this was Three Mile Island Unit 1 several years after the Unit 2 accident. A lot of union crafts are very good, some are professional in their work but not necessarily in attitude or work ethic, and some you don't want to turn your back on. There are plenty of cases of union sabotage as a plant or project approaches completion and jobs are due to end.
 
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#46
#46
volinbham said:
From my days at ORNL/X-10 a new computer for your office was delivered by one group, unboxed and place on your desk by another group and hooked up/started by a third. Doing any of these yourself would result in a grievance. Moving any of your office furniture around without putting in a request for someone else to do it would result in a grievance. Emptying your own trash would result in a grievance.
Click to expand...
I work for a large contractor doing the remediation work across ORNL/Y12/ETTP and can attest to this. Having estimated projects, industrial, commercial, and DoE, these projects cost 4 times what a commercial or open shop industrial project would.
 
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#47
#47
DancingOutlaw said:
I remember when Hostess went under, one of the issues they had was the union contracts. There was a teamsters union for the drivers and a warehouse union for the guys that unloaded the trucks. So drivers weren't allowed to unload their own trucks at stores, there had to be two men to do one man's job. And both sat and did nothing while the other worked. Then they wondered why their job disappeared.
Click to expand...

The Peterbilt plant in Madison, TN was killed by the union. I always wondered how they managed to build a truck with all the union rules.
 
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#49
#49
hog88 said:
The Peterbilt plant in Madison, TN was killed by the union. I always wondered how they managed to build a truck with all the union rules.
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Between the unions and gov regs it's a wonder anything can ne made at reasonable price.
 
#50
#50
This is always an entertaining discussion. I'll be upfront and say as a member of a union, I don't like unions. They tend to be corrupt good ol' boys clubs. But... My pay and QOL would not be what it is without it. There are valid comparisons within the industry that I won't get in to. But if those issues were domestic only, the discussion wouldn't really be happening. The problem is that we are becoming more and more and more of a global economy with each passing day. And it's nothing new. Why are iPhones made in China? Why is pretty much anything you buy in Walmart or Target made in China? The argument that 'unions killed' such and such is a half truth at best and myopic. We have the best standard of living on the planet, and it is both great and terrible because of that globalization of economies. Water will always seek the lowest point. Money is the same. American labor can NEVER compete with Chinese labor. Never, ever in a million years unless either A) their standard of living comes up to meet ours, or B) ours goes down to meet theirs. Now.. you tell me. Which was Mr Trump trying to accomplish, and which is Mr Biden trying to accomplish via POLICY.
 
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