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Obama Praises Amazon At One of Its Controversial Warehouses
theodp writes "In his first term, President Obama was a big booster of indie bookstores. But on Tuesday, the President chose to deliver his speech on Jobs for the Middle Class at one of Amazon's controversial fulfillment centers in Chattanooga, TN. 'Amazon is a great example of what's possible,' said Obama, who also toured the 'amazing facility' where workers can make $10.50-$11.50 an hour as an employee of Integrity Staffing Group, 'may also be eligible for medical and dental benefits', and 'must be able to stand/walk for up to 10-12 hours' in temperatures that 'will occasionally exceed 90 degrees.' So, are '21st century migrant workers' the new middle class?"
-Obama, overlord of Earth.
Well, at least it's not Canada.
So he likes to shop at indie book stores with his daughter, and somehow this makes him a hypocrite by giving a speech at an amazon warehouse? The speech itself wasn't really about books anyway:
In his speech, Obama outlines the areas he believes the country needs to focus on "if we want to create good jobs that pay good wages in durable industries." Among these priorities, listed in order of mention, are: manufacturing and high-tech jobs, infrastructure jobs, and clean energy jobs
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
I'm seriously failing to see what about these jobs makes them "controversial." The pay and working conditions seem to be completely in line with the type of work it entails. It's certainly better than minimum wage or a true "factory" job (in terms of safety).
in the new normal
Keep up the selfishness... Keep buying the cheapest crap from the cheapest place possible, without regard for where you're spending your money, and this is what you get. After all, there's "free shipping", right?
Welcome to the another manifestation of the culture of "I've got mine. Fuck you."
I don't respond to AC's.
I have credit for designing a 3AXIS milling machine, mechanical, electirical and software.
I made SimStructure
I made an operating system.
God is perfectly just.
God says...
C:\TAD\Text\WEALTH.TXT
twelve ounces of fine silver.
About the middle of the last century, it came to be regulated, between
the proportions of one to fourteen and one to fifteen; that is, an ounce
of fine gold came to be supposed worth between fourteen and fifteen
ounces of fine silver. Gold rose in its nominal value, or in the
quantity of silver which was given for it. Both metals sunk in their
real value, or in the quantity of labour which they could purchase; but
silver sunk more than gold. Though both the gold and sil
well it is the Amazon duh
The Middle-Class is being redefined as people who can afford basic necessities like food, shelter, clothing and medicine. Want money to enjoy life beyond that? Tough luck!
What are you talking about?
They're decent, honest jobs that pay a fair wage.
That's about as middle class as it gets.
Robots don't need medical benefits.
Seriously, is this supposed to be controversial? Barnes and Noble has been accused of putting indie booksellers out of business too. And indie booksellers aren't exactly the job creating engines of the 21st century.
When did ~$24k gross a year become middle class? Did I miss a memo or have I been living in fantasy land? (11.50 per hour * 40 hours per week * 52 weeks)
He's like all politicians, just a Corporatist who happens to have either a "D" or "R" after his name.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
...one of Amazon's controversial fulfillment centers in Chattanooga ... workers can make $10.50-$11.50 an hour as an employee of Integrity Staffing Group,
They'd be better off as shoe-shine boys on track 29
All hail Glorious Leader Obummer!!
There is no Middle Class anymore. Since the Middle Class stopped wearing suits and settled for business casual, everybody became Blue Collar.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Funny how hard it is to live on one of these 'good, high wage jobs'. Working in tech obviously I'm used to high compensation for my time, but I've done military, machining, making packaging for frozen dinners, etc etc. It's funny how the more physically demanding the job is the harder they want you to work to have to joy of keeping your job while at the same time paying you 1/4th what you make with a desk job. There is a skill difference in the work obviously but I don't think anyone should go home after a 40+ hr week with too little money to live. You can get by on 11 in the burbs but what if your job is in the city? Somehow Starbucks employees are just supposed to "get by". Getting by usually means 25+ year olds still living with their parents because their full time job isn't enough to be able to afford a place of their own.
Funny how Walmart offered suggestions on budgeting recently that excluded the cost of heating (don't remember if transportation was on there or not, but heck bus both ways to a 5 day a week job will probably run you $80 a month at least so you'd be working for your first day and a half of the month just to get to work).
Seriously. I sold dew worms to fishermen for a year to buy my first computer (which I had to solder together myself). I taught myself to program, got hired to train other people, worked at solution delivery for a while, moved into architecture, then management, and now I'm the 1% that people complain about.
Everybody wants it all but doesn't want to work for it. Guess what? It doesn't work that way. Bitching and whining about what you don't have and how others have it all and how come you don't blah blah blah won't cut it. You have to work hard. While I was building my first computer my house didn't even have running water.
Ask me if I'm sympathetic.
I am not interested in articles about life extension advancements.
It must be a cold day in Hades.
Relentless war which the globalist elites are waging against any possible middle class opposition - CHECK.
Utter hypocrisy of moving employees off-book, into sub-contractor scams, where hours are guaranteed to be less than 30-per-week so as not to qualify for Obamacare - CHECK.
Big-$$$ campaign contributions and other goodies being laundered from Bezos through Gorelick and into the Chicago Machine - CHECK.
Hypocrisy of Martha's Vineyard vacationing politician, who otherwise would love him some indie bookstores, heading to the mother of all vertical bidnesses for a little facetime on the evening newz - CHECK.
What's next, an honest discussion of why Fuckerberg and Ballzmer and L-Word-ison really want all those H1B aliens?
Might be a good day to go long on some snowball contracts in Hell.
I worked for $8/hr at a graphics company on top a heat press in July without air conditioning and had to stand up for 8 hours straight with one crappy break and very little water when I was 18. Guess who I worked with from the staffing agency? People with criminal records. People who were chain smokers. People with gambling problems. People who had been divorced 3 times. And I guarantee, people who didn't have college degrees. So if you make stupid life choices, you end up at a crap job like that. As for me, someone else made the job sound better than it was and made a referral commission and I only worked there 1 month lol.
Plain and simple: Obama is turning America into a third world nation.
I guess that's one way to help us export more and import less. Except he's also making it more and more difficult for any jobs to even be filled by Americans.
It's less simply more like he just wants to destroy Americans of every class and replace Americans with people actually from other countries. Thank god we can of course trust him. So we are walking into nice pretty shower facilities...err that we aren't walking out of.
However I do8't philosophies must
...is not middle fucking class.
worldmobilenet.com -- World Prepaid Wireless Internet plans
What one generation does, the next undoes, and the next does again...
The idea of Middle Class hasn't existed for most of history, only briefly between the 50 year period of the 1940's to the 1990's.
This generation's great grandparents fought hard against management, forming unions, making and following through with physical threats, etc... all to win the right to be paid a fair day's wage for a fair day's work. Their children being raised in this "lap of luxury", our parents, had no respect for the struggle their parents went though to earn that quality of life. When their time came to work they fought vehemently against taxes so they could keep even more of their wealth, and when they got to management they lowered wages and broke the unions their parents built, all to further increase their personal wealth at the expense of their peers.
Those spoiled brats ripped down their parent's grand creation to sell for scrap value to grant themselves slightly more temporary wealth, and as a result we, their children, are faced with the same situation our grandparents found themselves in almost 100 years ago.
We will rebuild, but this time there will be an eternal digital record such that our children might look back and see what we went though to earn their quality of life, and hopefully they will not take their wealth for granted the way our parents did.
I thought the "middle class" used to be the shopkeepers.
You know, the people the Amazons and Walmarts of the world put out of business in the last two decades.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
First of all, it's a warehouse job on the floor. If you are working out on the floor: It's going to be hot. It's going to be long hours of physical activity. Complaining about these things is like complaining that farm jobs involve touching dirt (oh no!) or that waitress positions are not glamorous positions.
Second, the warehouse jobs on the floor making 10-11.5 is quite high. I don't know about you but I don't expect it to make $100,000 a year especially for a temporary position. Management and staff positions might make more however these are not mentioned or considered.
Integrity Staffing places qualified candidates to work on assignments at Amazon Warehouses on a temporary basis. Assignments vary in length. There is no guarantee to the length of the assignment. Length of employment is based on client’s business needs which can change.
Third, Amazon sells more than books unless you haven't been paying attention. Mentioning indie bookstores does what exactly? Can I get diapers in bulk at my local indie bookstore?
Maybe the better point is how the President could do more assertive things for the country like in this op-ed piece rather complaining at a faux controversy.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
As long as temperatures don't exceed 451 degrees, they should be fine
What are you talking about?
They're decent, honest jobs that pay a fair wage.
That's about as middle class as it gets.
Ummm, no. Physical working conditions are certainly great, but Amazon fulfillment warehouses are notoriously known for driving workers into a state of constant terror due to managerial abuse. A middle class job used to imply a sort of shielding from such things (not totally but certainly more than what you would see and still see at a minimum wage fast food joint.)
Middle class doesn't imply that anymore. And $10-$12 an hour is $24K. That is not below what is typically considered a low-end middle class salary. $24K was middle class twenty years ago. Not anymore. They are just above the limit that forces people to use social services.
I'm not saying these jobs are decent or honest (and thank God they are not Walmart salaries.) Any job with salaries above the poverty line is better than no job or poverty-line job, anytime, any day. And I'm not saying that for the type of job being performed, these are not fair wages. They are.
But let us not call them middle class wages. They are not. The rising cost of living, education and health care, and the continuous shift towards replacing full-time workers with part-time workers (or contractors) have pretty much made sure a $12/h job is not a middle class job anymore.
I don't see anything controversial about the warehouse. It's hot (or cold) unskilled manual labor. It pays above minimum wage, but like most jobs with unskilled labor, pays no benefits. They do not do so because it would not provide them with any competitive advantage vs. other fulfillment companies.
Breaking the "race to the bottom" to make sure you won't starve to death and have access to things like basic medical care when you are a productive member of society (fulfilling your end of the "social contract") is arguably a useful thing for government to do.
I worked in a warehouse in the summers when I was in college - grocery warehouse. That was... cripes, about twenty years ago. I made $9/hr, which was pretty good for the time. I wasn't trying to raise a family or anything on that, though; just help pay some tuition and books and stuff. Tuition was (much) lower then, the student loan rates were lower, etc.
Now, if the wages had kept pace with inflation, they'd be making over $14.50/hr. So they're actually making less in real terms than I did.
Along those lines, here's some food - so to speak - for thought: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/mcdonalds-salaries_n_3672006.html
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
The American Dream.
Fuck you if you can't make it.
As if that has not been the norm in other parts of the world since the beginning of time.
The reality is that the American Dream is not what it used to be, but it is certainly a much better alternative for a lot of folks in other countries. I'm not saying that we do not have a problem, but it is not one unique of this country, and it is far more fixable than what other countries are facing right now - think Greece, Spain, France or take your pick of any country in Latin America (where I'm from) or Africa.
You are correct; $11.50 an hour is not middle-class. However, that no-benefit salary is usually enough to make you ineligible for things like Medicaid (even though you aren't buying jack-$hit in medical care on that paycheck) or a Public Defender if you are accused of a crime.
It's a tragedy that a productive member of society that is fulfilling his/her end of the "social contract" still cannot obtain the things we would expect every civilized nation to make sure it's citizens have access to.
Well, you cannot raise a family of four on $12/hour.
But that's not Amazon's fault. The work isn't worth any more than $12/hour. If you raised the price of labor to $20/hour, then Amazon would use more automation.
If a worker is only capable of getting a minimum wage job and wants to raise children, they'd better hope their spouse can work as well.
But as far as these jobs being "controversial"? Not even a little.
... is praising a very conservative employer. Why are we surprised by this? Obama has done more for the conservative movement than Reagan ever could have dreamed of. He gives lots of lip service to raising minimum wage, reducing tax burden on the lowest income brackets, making health care and education more accessible, etc; but his actions counter those promises. He has cut taxes more than Reagan, he has reduced government more than Reagan, we have seen union membership continue to plummet even more quickly than it did under Reagan, and we have seen college tuition rise even more than it did under Reagan. On top of all that minimum wage hasn't increased anywhere near as much as inflation, while employers have continued to amass more power over their employees.
I don't know why anyone is surprised to see Obama praising the Amazon warehouse. It cuts jobs and neglects the value of employees; those are classic conservative values. And don't try to claim that the massive health insurance industry bailout act (aka "ObamaCare") is somehow not a conservative act; Reagan would have crapped himself with excitement over signing a bill into law that forces average Americans to become consumers of for-profit businesses.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
In late August 2008, Then Senator Obama gave a little speech in a airline maintenance hanger in Kansas City. He complained about the Republicans and how much ground the middle class had lost, about healthcare. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xauuo1CvexE Listening to it now it still echos of somebody who didn't have ideas then and certainly has no ideas now. What's ironic about his middle class speech there is that American Airlines closed down that maintenance facility in 2010.. http://www.dallasnews.com/business/headlines/20100924-American-Airlines-closes-former-TWA-base-878.ece
Sounds like the same schtick over and over again.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Its just an example. Much more is possible.
Some of us learn from other people's mistakes and the rest of us have to be other people. -- Zig Ziglar
So, are '21st century migrant workers' the new middle class?"
No, warehouse work is the new 21st migrant worker. That sort of job isn't and shouldn't be considered middle class.
Seriously. I sold dew worms to fishermen for a year to buy my first computer (which I had to solder together myself). I taught myself to program, got hired to train other people, worked at solution delivery for a while, moved into architecture, then management, and now I'm the 1% that people complain about.
Everybody wants it all but doesn't want to work for it. Guess what? It doesn't work that way. Bitching and whining about what you don't have and how others have it all and how come you don't blah blah blah won't cut it. You have to work hard. While I was building my first computer my house didn't even have running water.
Ask me if I'm sympathetic.
You are awesome. That was sarcasm btw. Great that you went from the bottom to the top. Want a cookie or a start for that? A documentary by Michael Moore? You are not the only one. I came to this country with no language skills, working at McDonalds or driving fork lifts. I climbed all the way up so now I'm a nice, comfortable upper-middle class position.
Your house didn't have running water? Woopie doo! I was in a god-forsaken, roach-infested shanty town nothing but with water and sugar for food and nothing more. Since you pretty much went on a dick contest (mine is better than you, you lazy slobs), I might as well join and show you mine.
Seriously, you are one conceited cookie. Your struggles? Big. Fucking. Deal. You think your struggles and successes somehow make you fundamentally better than those who don't make it?
Newsflash. They. Fucking. Don't. They. Don't. Qualify. You. To. Assign. Ethical. Scores. On. People's. Successes. Or. Misfortunes.
More newsflash. That was what you just did by making a work ethics comparison between yourself against the less fortunate.
Yes you worked hard, and no one will ever take that away from you. But guess what, you were lucky to live at a particular place and time and circumstances that allowed you to fully reap the rewards of your hard labor, rewards that were rightfully yours.
No one makes it out to the top 100% by themselves, without any assistance of social circumstances and luck, independently of hard they work. Anyone who thinks otherwise is full of hubris.
Despite all my successes that came out from a zero that most folks (possibly not even you) would never even come to understand, I would never come to believe, despite my success, that people fighting for better working conditions is bitching and winning about what they don't have. Things have changed to the point that they are truly dysfunctional. It doesn't really matter why as the problem is extremely complex and defies simple (simpleton) characterizations.
It is absolutely stupid of you to characterize protesting, low-wage folks as bitching bitches that do not work hard, regardless of circumstances and context. But hey, if characterizing complex socio-economic phenomena with simpleton generalizations rock your boat... let them eat cake and shit like that.
this, right here.
Amazon is contracting these jobs out so they are distanced from the managerial abuses, lack of benefits, instability, and poor working conditions.
AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES HOLDS THIS UP AS A PARAGON TO BE EMULATED.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
You don't understand. It's easier to make up a new definition to fit the conditions than it is to have the conditions fit the current definition.
The chocolate ration is increasing to 30 grams!
I guess it depends on how you define "middle class". The traditional definition would more or less be people who are not rich, nor poor. That is how it came about in the first place. Back in the day, you were one or the other and the difference was stark. The rich had everything, the poor had nothing, the rich needed to do nothing, the poor had to do everything, etc, etc. The poor had at least one, and usually more than one, basic need un or under fulfilled. The poor generally belonged to the rich, literally, they were slaves or indentured to the land.
Well as time went on a "middle" class came about and grew. They weren't rich, they had to work for a living, but they weren't poor either. They had their needs met, they had some measure of independence and self determination, and so on.
By that standard, the vast majority of America is middle class. We have some actual poor, and some actual rich, but most people would be in a wide band that is the middle. There's great variance in that band, but the general statements of the original middle class are true.
Now some people believe that definition is (or should be) changed. That you divide it down further. A frequent term you see for people who are not poor, but are only a bit above it is "working class". Middle class is then something higher up above that.
The big problem is most people don't actually think as to how they define it. Online, people seem to define "middle class" as some nebulous kind of good lifestyle that they can't really define what it entails or what it takes to have, but that they think they should have and are mad they don't.
At any rate, it depends on how you wish to define things. There is no international standard or anything so really, you need to decide for yourself what terms and levels you think make sense. But yes, $24k/year can be "middle class" by some definitions, at least in cheaper areas of the country.
I can see taking exception to the pay. It is valid to have the position that we should be more socialist, that people in lower skill jobs should make more. Not everyone will agree, of course, but it is a valid position to have and to argue. However this concept that there is something bad about having to stand and move all day for work, or that it won't be in a climate controlled office. Oh give me a break.
It is just part of this bias that Mike Rowe calls a "war on work" as though only jobs sitting at a desk are real jobs. That if you are out doing any sort of physical work, then your job sucks and you should aspire to something better. No, actually, it is perfectly valid to work like that and you can be quite happy. One thing I'll say for sure is it helps keep you in better shape when you are active like that. I was a surveyor's assistant for a while, which meant working outside doing physical things. Man was I in good shape. I felt good too, had more energy than I do now where I sit at a desk all day. This is not to say I hate my desk job, I love doing computer support, but I am realistic about the benefits I got from being active all day.
So ya, I don't see what is wrong with these Amazon warehouse jobs, other than perhaps the pay. Trying to make it seem bad because people are standing and moving just smacks of laziness. "Oh those poor people, they have to actually use their bodies, which is actually healthier! Whatever will they do!"
If Amazon treats them well and their workplace is safe, then what is to complain about, environment wise?
The issue with Amazon is while they offer great service and the lowest prices, they are forcing not only other businesses to go under but also dictating the prices of goods in the market. Many companies have a Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy in order to keep an even playing field for their resellers. Amazon is so large, and buys so much, that do not obey to MAP policies - they do what they please. If the manufacturer doesn't like this, they can choose not sell to Amazon and subsequently lose sales in the millions of dollars.
In the wake of low prices and convenience, we are seeing the extinction of a free-enterprise market and the transition of skilled laborers to box-stuffers....all run by the efficiency of a computer system.
There was a time in the US when the "working class" actually banded together for higher wages and benefits. There was a time when Americans cared enough about the future of their children to take the necessary steps to guarantee them a better future, whether they were garbage collectors or brain surgeons. The lessons learned from the affects of Robber Baron Capitalism and The Great Depression have been utterly lost. Utterly Lost.
What has happened is(for lack of a better term, and a nod to Queensryche's 1988 masterwork, "Operation Mindcrime") that the 1% that rule America discovered how to "divide and conquer", as if that tactic hasn't been used countless times through history with the same results. Since the 1980s(yea, you've heard this before) the 1% have successfully rolled back the social safety nets, which in the past were mainly affecting the poor. Now the middle class is sliding down into poverty.
This is no "market adjustment" or "realignment of labor forces". This is nothing less that a concerted and tightly executed plan to turn the US into a third world country, where the vast majority of the population is poor, marginalized and has little or no political or economic power, where a small elite controls all facets of society.
The lessons learned from the affects of Robber Baron Capitalism and The Great Depression have been utterly lost. Utterly Lost...
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
But tell me our dear 2008/2012 Obamaniac liberals Slashdot liberals did not see it coming...
The jobs described sound like most entry-level labor-class jobs - whether it's a framer, and landscaper, a farm worker, feed store employee, or any other manual job which requires very little training. Those never were middle class jobs, and neither is a warehouse job.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Contrast that with the Keystone Pipeline - high level blue-collar jobs with further job creation in the refineries. If we do not build the pipeline here, the Canadians are likely to build one to the ocean and export the stuff to be refined somewhere else and the result will be the loss of well paying jobs. When we choose to not develop ANWR and states elect to not drill for oil and gas - then we are shipping these jobs overseas.
If you raise the minimum wage to $20, and you replace the no-skill person with a machine, where does that person find a job?
You're just pushing more people onto welfare and foodstamps, which is a bad thing overall.
You cannot generalize the experiences of Denmark, a country that has an economy less than the size of North Carolina to a gigantic economy like the United States.
Here in Europe, many people look upon Obama as the biggest US-caused / US-related disappointment in more than a century.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
He got his 2 terms, so, now, its all about perception, getting to the finish line with some style and substance and hoping to pass the POTUS seat to another Democrat. Can't blame him I s'pose.
Originally the term middle class was used to describe the wealthy merchant class that lived like born nobility but were not. In the US which never had nobility, upper class was redefined to be the european middle class, the wealthy merchants, and that left the boundary between middle and lower a bit ambiguous.
refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
I feel like a dumbass for buying his bullshit during the elections (I didn't vote for him, but he seemed like a decent guy). I thought Cheney was a straight thinking, honest guy in 2000, too (didn't vote for that pair either).
There should be criminal penalties for lying politicians.
never heard of an indie bookstore before. i've heard of Indiana in the states.
Arrogant, Socialist Obama. Country divided. Inflation out of control. Outsourcing and importing at record highs. Higher taxes. Suffocated economy. Still involved in a war (ah... two wars actually). Gitmo still open. NSA way out of control. Homeland Security way out of control. Social engineering.
Yeah - when will Americans WAKE THE FUCK UP??? Maybe when the damage is irreversible.
It makes sense, actually.
Total personal income (all) for the US in 2012: $13,401,868,693,000.
Divided by the current population of the US (312 million)
= $43,000 yr.
Working for 11.50/hour = $23,000/yr. 2 jobs = $46,000 yr.
So we see, the goal of Democrats is to make sure that wealth and income is distributed absolutely equally, with everyone working 2 shitty 40-hour jobs.
Then, FINALLY, it will all be "fair"!
-Styopa
The current occupant couldn't find it with a map.
First of all.... the conservative movement of the Reagan era is LONG gone. I think that's worth noting, because America was in a much different place in the 80's than it is today, but also because practically everyone running as a "Republican" today has values very far from what Reagan did.
If you simply want to do a quick "once over" of how the Obama and Reagan presidency differed, you only have to look at the economic picture. The U.S. was prospering under Reagan's administration. College tuition might have risen under Reagan, but so did people's ability to pay it, by and large. Obama has done practically nothing to "reduce government" that I'm aware of, either? Please cite these claims! If anything, he's consistently maintained practically all of the additional government baggage the Bush administration brought about (and which MANY people think needs to go!). TSA, Homeland Security ... these things didn't even exist in the Reagan days.
As far as this specific article? I'm not particularly surprised to see Obama praising an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. I simply agree that it's an "interesting" choice for a speech about middle class jobs. I have no problem with Amazon, and would probably agree with Obama that the company as a whole is an example of a U.S. tech success story. But certainly, the temporary, low paid labor positions the warehouses create aren't doing much to improve the nation's economic situation.
Overall, I'm very much in agreement that Obama has done an awful lot of maintaining policies and govt. programs put in place his Republican predecessor. But his predecessor wasn't following in Reagan's footsteps. (In fact, going back as far as Bush, Sr.'s presidency -- I remember reading an anecdote about Reagan feeling the man wasn't even fit to shake his hand at the inauguration, and didn't want to attend the White House dinner for him either. He only did all of that because it was expected of him as a tradition.)
I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave: My brief, backbreaking, rage-inducing, low-paying, dildo-packing time inside the online-shipping machine.
"... when you're late or sick you miss the opportunity to maximize your overtime pay. And working more than eight hours is mandatory. Stretching is also mandatory, since you will either be standing still at a conveyor line for most of your minimum 10-hour shift or walking on concrete or metal stairs."
"The gal conducting our training reminds us again that we cannot miss any days our first week. There are NO exceptions to this policy. She says to take Brian, for example, who's here with us in training today. Brian already went through this training, but then during his first week his lady had a baby, so he missed a day and he had to be fired."
It's 4 pages. Take the time to read it. It's depressing as fuck. I buy very little from Amazon anymore, and when I do, it's usually from individual sellers, not "Amazon" itself.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
40 years of productivity gains
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
How about instead of criticizing a company for creating all these jobs, innovating an entire new industry, producing incredible value for customers, and instead praise them for doing so?
Working for low wages sucks. I know plenty of people who do this. Often they are recent immigrants or children of recent immigrants. Both parents may need to work. Grandmother may need to live with them and do child care. Their kids might not have their own bedrooms.
But having wages of this level means they can have a (used) car, refrigerator, microwave, TV, running water and a flush toilet - things they may not have had if they were unable to come to the US. So they are happy about that. But life is still challenging, though they get by and have a life as enjoyable as anyone else (I know unhappy rich people and happy poor people).
Low wages are an important price signal. It says perhaps you should finish high school, or go to college like 66% of high school graduates, or go to a trade school, or become an entrepreneur and start your own business (I know a Central American immigrant who started as a maid, saved up money, and now owns a chain of restaurants). Or perhaps you should move to areas with higher wages, like the Bakken or Eagle Shale areas.
Don't be like Washington DC and destroy thousands of potential jobs by saying Walmart should pay higher wages than the minimum wage. Don't force people to be unemployed.
If you really want to help these people, first let them have jobs (i.e. at the market wage) rather than try to manipulate their wages and making them unemployed. Give them a chance to make some money now. Then they may figure out they need to save to get more skills, move, stay in place and learn how to move into management, etc.
Then ask yourself why our unionized socialized government monopoly schools might not be preparing everyone for high-skill, high-productivity jobs.
Withstand temperatures of 90C? That's kinda hot. Water boils at 100, so to say you get cooked in an environment like that is very close to the truth. Even on that old fahrenheight scale, it comes out to 194F.
want you to keep your schedule free so that they can move you around at their whim.
This seems to be a common pattern with many of these SHIT "recovery" jobs. They don't want to give you full-time hours, because they'd have to give you benefits. But they don't want to give you a stable schedule so you can get a second (or third) job to make ends meet. McDonald's is the specific case I remember hearing a report about.
If those rat-bastards want full-time availability, they should pay full-time wages.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
It's no surprise that if the only thing you bring to the job market is a strong back (unless you're in the NFL) you're probably going to be at the low end of the food chain. Learn a skill, get an education, do an internship. These are entry level positions that have historicaly been filled by students, casual labor, and the unskilled. Why blame market forces instead of a mirror? Only in Lake Woebegone can everyone earn above average results. Few of us lay claim to chance success...programming, engineering, etc. pays well for a reason
You're all shooting wide of the mark. All these new policies, political moves, power grabs, changes to working conditions, hours and benefit structures, combined with the overarching driving need to accomplish it all under the name of ecological sustainability leads to one possible outcome: not eco-socialism, which, if done correctly might be better than what 's really coming down the pipe at us, but eco-plutocracy.
Consider that one of the greatest spokesmen for the climate change camp, winning accolades for his movie (rife with scientific inaccuracies) and winner of a Nobel Prize for his contributions to the climate change movement, lives in a sprawling compound that sucks up more power than a small village and who has the chutzpah to write a cheque for endangered fish credits when it was found out that they were serving an endangered fish at his daughter's wedding reception. "Oh, sorry, are we eating an endangered fish? Here take some money to make up for it. That should fix everything."
He also made millions of the exchange of Carbon Credits through his Chicago Carbon credit exchange. Thankfully that actually died a quiet death in 2010. There was a program to buy carbon credits for the carbon your body exhaled in your daily life.
Eco-plutocracy, rule by the rich in the name of ecological causes and campaigns.
Burning Kindles would make a lot of toxic fumes.
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
I would give you a +1, if I could.
The best thing about UDP jokes is I don't care if you get them or not
What planet do you people live on where income only comes from one entity within the house?
It's been at least 15 years, to my count, that "middle" class families have single wage earners.
Stop the $10/hr = poor crap; you're taking household income, calling it single income, and taking the potato that you get and calling it math.
It's a hell of a lot more money than a single-out-of-work teacher makes in New York.
The world has too many useless people.
"despite an eagerness to assume some goofy kid is a dangerous criminal."
Oh my god, you cannot be serious. So Trayvon Martin is now "some goofy kid"? Hilarious, absolutely hilarious.
Watch this, idiot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebu6Yvzs4Ls
In my benighted Red 19th-century state, the Kochs are running TV ads refuting the 1% / 99% argument, reassuring the working poor that they indeed are well-off and middle class. Pay no mind to your paycheck-to-paycheck, one middling medical issue away from oblivion, dear serfs!
Exerable assholes highly deserving of dying in a fire.
It's not about money, it's about convenience; time is the most valuable asset you have. If I can spend that with my family instead of driving all over town to shop at a store that may or may not have exactly what I want, so be it.
So while I'd love to ruminate about the poor old shopkeep who is providing what is now a commodity service, I'd rather focus on the real cultural idiocy - the disdain for intelligence driven by pop culture and the idea that education is easy (MOOCs, "online" degrees, for-profit colleges, etc.).
I'd rather educate those looking to better themselves, something vastly more important than making sure they can make a living simply by re-selling other peoples crap, something that is a commodity service regardless of where I shop. Furthermore, I'd rather not define myself solely as a consumer by doing so.
"Fuck you" indeed.
unskilled manual labor
I hear this a lot. Anyone that actually has had a jobs a manual laborer knows that it does indeed require skill. The difficulty is not in completing the work, but doing it without injury- be it immediate or through long term physical stress. Unfortunately no one can be completely error-free in the long term so the honest truth of it is most people that do 'unskilled' physical labor for an extended period of time end up with permanent physical problems. So the next time you see some poverty stricken slob limping along and being in your way to get to your cushy air conditioned desk job with a starbucks in hand, be kind. They have given more for their paycheck than can be replaced, something none of us on slashdot will ever likely have to do.
What do you expect from a president who calls a drug-dealing, intoxicated criminal his "son"?
I am a software developer but $10.50/hour would be a raise for me. As an independant contractor I am also most definitely not elgible for any kind of health coverage. It's difficult to get high wages when work can simply be outsourced to thrid world countries.
(1) Negative net worth != losing wealth. If I own a rental property or few they would most likely be mortgaged leading to a negative net worth. Assuming you've covered the rents the individual would NOT be losing wealth but generating it as the mortgages are paid down over time and equity is built up. Its called leverage., mind you it increases risk. Some types of debt are not evil.
Because I was curious, and don't know how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius in my head, I was about to enter "90 Fahrenheit" in Google. But after seeing the most recent NSA story on the front page and I just used KDE's krunner (Alt-F2), with nice standard-y, but somewhat unexpected results.
By the way, 90 Fahrenheit is 32.2 Celsius.
Ah, arrogance and stupidity, all in the same package. How efficient of you. -- Londo Mollari
"What are you talking about?
They're decent, honest jobs that pay a fair wage.
That's about as middle class as it gets."
This was marked as a troll?
Remember asshat moderators, you're not supposed to moderate down because you disagree
Sadly, most of the people who work at Amazon aren't Amazons. Any company that wants to grow should hire a couple Amazons.
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
all im gonna say
Govt doesn't need your taxes. Unlike you, Govt can print currency. Govt is imposing taxes to keep you subservient.
Casteism
Where is the outcry from all those who are scandalized by Walmart wages/benefits?? I wonder if the difference in reaction has to do with perception in the public eye. After all, Walmart has a conservative family at the helm, and Amazon has a progressive one.
It is fascinating that these workers are employed by "Integrity Staffing" instead of by Amazon. It seems that prior to the massive assault on unions by Republicans, a union would be a buffer between a large employer and common workers. But now a staffing company is, somewhat, in that role. Except a staffing company obviously is representing the employer's (short term) interests, while a union would explicitly be looking after the worker's interests.
It is no coincidence that the middle class is in such decline at the same time as corporate profits and cash reserves are at all time highs. That money was stolen from the middle class. The corporations are sitting on their huge pile of gold like Smaug.