4. What Are Other People Saying?
The media has been able to provide information on the current strikes. They provide insight into the workers and share their points of view. Employees agree to interviews and share their personal life experiences that have been impacted by the working conditions. Unions have begun to use the power of social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok.
We are able to see the support unions receive from the community. Many people are appalled to hear the stories and the disrespect many employees face on a daily basis. The public is also able to see what Amazon has to say about the situation. Many of these articles disclose that they tried getting an interview with the company but weren't able to get their point of view because they decline to speak.
As a result, more attention is bought to the problem at hand. It has an effect on current customers and makes them review and perhaps reflect on the situation. As a consumer, you wouldn’t want to support a corporation that doesn’t care about its employees and push them to break limits in order to make sure a package gets delivered. Personally, I was shocked when I saw this article talking about toilet breaks being timed. No one should ever be in an environment where they have to worry about using the restroom. Why would the number of bathroom breaks be a reflection of my performance?
In Aug 2018, the situation brought the attention of Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders was fighting for better compensation for the workers and wanted to bring out to light how much they pay their employees. During an interview with CNN Business he stated the following " Mr. Bezos continues to pay many thousands of his Amazon employees wages that are so low that they are forced to depend on taxpayer-funded programs, such as food stamps, Medicaid, and subsidized housing in order to survive," Sanders said in the video, stressing that taxpayers foot the bill for these benefits. "Frankly, I don't believe that ordinary Americans should be subsidizing the wealthiest people in the world because they pay their employees inadequate wages".
Overall, the media has been a powerful tool to spread awareness of the problems workers face. People have begun to respond to these situations. They show their support by following and sharing posts on their own accounts. The public also has access to lawsuits being filed which have information on Amazon's decisions and the action they are willing to take.
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Resources
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-black-friday-strikes-protests-manhattan-st-louis-30-countries/
- https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64384287
- https://money.cnn.com/2018/08/29/technology/bernie-sanders-amazon/index.html
It was one of my concern when I did research on Amazon too, I started to question myself whether or not I want to keep supporting this business but the question I keep asking myself is how desperately these employees need their jobs, what happens if customers start boycotting and the effect it will have on these employees. My suggestions is if all the employees were to collaborate and join strong forces in demanding what they want, the company will ultimately have to look into these issues since they depend on these very employees to sustain the business.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was researching about amazon I was glad to find so many sources because everyone is talking about Amazon and its treatment of their workers.
ReplyDeleteI'm just glad that unions are using social media platforms to gain support from the community. Have there been any updates on the progress of the strikes and the response from Amazon?
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