Slashdot Mirror
Black Friday Protest Sites Included An Amazon Warehouse (thecourier.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes:
Friday a group of protesters picketed Amazon's warehouse in Dunfermline, Scotland, alleging workers there face "up to 60 hours per week for little more than the minimum wage," according to an article in The Courier. "They also claim that new workers are tracked and monitored every minute of their working day and sacked if they fail to meet targets... Amazon has dismissed the claims, insisting that the firm values its employees and maintains a 'culture of direct dialogue' with them."
But around the world, more than 1 million people celebrated Buy Nothing Day on Friday, according to the editor in chief of Adbusters, saying their event has now spread to more than 60 countries. The Adbusters.org site suggested protesters stage zombie walks to parody the mindlessness of consumerism, and urged credit card-cutting ceremonies as well as "Whirl-Marts," where large groups of people "silently drive your shopping carts around in a long, inexplicable conga line without ever actually buying anything." The site is also sharing downloadable images which can be printed out for posters "to insert into public spaces."
One prominent retailer even closed both its physical and online stores Friday and gave all of its 12,000 employees the day off, according to USA Today. REI, which sells outdoor recreational equipment, was encouraging people to take advantage of Friday's free admission to many state parks for the second year in a row, and as many as 2.7 million people "pledged to participate" using the company's hashtag, #OptOutside.
But around the world, more than 1 million people celebrated Buy Nothing Day on Friday, according to the editor in chief of Adbusters, saying their event has now spread to more than 60 countries. The Adbusters.org site suggested protesters stage zombie walks to parody the mindlessness of consumerism, and urged credit card-cutting ceremonies as well as "Whirl-Marts," where large groups of people "silently drive your shopping carts around in a long, inexplicable conga line without ever actually buying anything." The site is also sharing downloadable images which can be printed out for posters "to insert into public spaces."
One prominent retailer even closed both its physical and online stores Friday and gave all of its 12,000 employees the day off, according to USA Today. REI, which sells outdoor recreational equipment, was encouraging people to take advantage of Friday's free admission to many state parks for the second year in a row, and as many as 2.7 million people "pledged to participate" using the company's hashtag, #OptOutside.
Here we go with your racist shit again
Nigga!
Silly America. One day they'll learn
just wanted to make sure i was included in the metrics. #fuckblackfriday
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Never mono-oxidize your carbon. The little Caesars deep dish pizza has over 3 1/2 feet of cheese...but where did they put it? In the crust! That's all. You may now look to your left.
I'm a good customer of Amazon's and make multiple purchases pretty much every month, but the protesters have a good point about the working conditions (and according to that NYT piece, that apparently extends to the white collar workforce as well, except maybe for the compensation). More power to them.
I didn't know they still had slavery in Scotland.
It's a job, not slavery, why don't they just quit.
b/c Amazon drove most of the mom and pop stores, as well as many big box retailers like Tower Records and Virgin Music, out of business.
Our local supermarket was partially closed after a bomb hoax. Apparently anti-consumerism is starting to take violent forms.
Amazon has dismissed the claims, insisting that the firm values its employees and maintains a 'culture of direct dialogue' with them
Here's how that "direct dialogue" goes, "Oh, you have a problem with your job? Ok, I'll listen to your complaints while security escorts you out the door."
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Whirl-Marts and any card cutting "services" are a good way to find yourself banned from a property.
And yes folks you can in fact have Private Property with Public Access.
sir.
A lot of minimum wage people would love to get 60 hours a week of work.
Bullshit. REI still had their online store open. They just weren't processing the orders until the next day. They did this scam last year too, and it increased their online sales by a large amount due to the free publicity.
The Walmart effect
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Many big chains (Wal-mart, etc.) have most of the big stuff Thursday night. I can't claim to have bought nothing Friday, but I spent more Thursday. (If you're protesting consumerism, you'd have to protest both days.)
the protesters have a good point about the working conditions
No they do not. Working at a warehouse doing the remaining things that are just a bit too tricky for a robot to do yet, is not at all hard nor requires any skill.
Why should such jobs pay much? Since anyone can do them workers are a dime a dozen.
As for working 60 hours a week - honestly that is a laughable amount of work to complain about. Never mind that a large number of people at Slashdot probably have worked much longer hours than that for a greater amount of time than Amazon's seasonal workforce does, there are a HUGE number of salaried office workers across America working longer hours per week the whole year and getting paid nothing extra for doing so.
Maybe Amazon should placate the protestors by doing what most companies do these days and give each worker just 20 hours a week instead of 60... which do you think would honestly make the workers happy? Remember most of them are seasonal and will only be there a month or two. Your plan for them earning money the rest of the year? Remember being paid hourly hours behind 40 they would get time and a half for (not sure what Scotland's rules are on that) which when I worked hourly I was pretty keen on.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What am I missing here... workers apply for a job, get the job, agree to and get paid a legal wage, get held accountable for what they do, and are sacked if they don't do the job. Am I missing something?
THERE AREN'T ENOUGH JOBS.
I know, why don't they all move to London, that'll fix it.
I didn't know they still had slavery in Scotland.
It's a job, not slavery, why don't they just quit.
Why don't they just quit?, have a good look at the job market in Scotland sometime, and when I say a good look, I mean try and actually get one not just count the vacancies (there is no guarantee a lot of them actually exist - there are various 'numbers games' being played), I say this as someone who does have a job and who deals with people who are either currently unemployed or will soon be in that category again on a weekday basis.
Amazon prey on the fact that there are large pools of available labour they can exploit as and when required, and I have to point out here that they 'Pontius Pilate' the thing to an extent by making sure these 'peons' are employed by agencies, not Amazon themselves, and I do have to point out that some of this 'seasonal' workforce aren't the 'unskilled morons' that some would like to paint them, money is money.
As to slavery...look up 'wage slavery' sometime, there are people in this country struggling to keep both warm and fed, they'll do any shitty job just to keep their heads above the waters financially, and that's what Amazon et al are banking millions off the back of.
Welcome to the 21st fucking century...
Nobody has adequately explained to me the difference between needing to hold down a job in order to survive and slavery, especially when used in your context.
Welcome to the 21st fucking century...
Same as all the previous centuries? Honestly, all those who think the modern (Western) world is so progressive are really just deluding themselves.
Love is such a strong word. They'd 'like' to be able to work 40 hours a week for the same amount of money they'd get for working 60 even better.
One prominent retailer even closed both its physical and online stores Friday and gave all of its 12,000 employees the day off, according to USA Today.
Why would you close the online store? Nobody has to be there. Just let everyone know there will be no support on that day and their problems will have to be solved another day. Harbor Freight was among the companies which closed all of their stores, but they had black friday coupon deals on their site.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Working at a warehouse doing the remaining things that are just a bit too tricky for a robot to do yet
Anyone interested in this train of thought may enjoy reading Manna: http://www.marshallbrain.com/m...
Probably for the same reason the people crying for bread didn't just eat cake instead.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
how many people are going to miss NOT buying a backpack, tent or sleeping bag for one or two days a year.
How does that compare with other retailers that sell food (human and pet), clothing, tools, automotive oil, coolants etc. and non-pharmaceutical medicines, which people tend to need on a regular basis??
Sorry no. Amazon was still selling used college books back when Tower Records fell. It was the big box retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, etc that killed it. They can lower the prices of the CDs (and DVDs) because they could subsidized those losses with the other high priced items like TVs and kitchen appliances. http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/10/20/450038047/the-life-and-death-of-tower-records-revisited
With slavery, you have no ability to either leave a job or to better yourself so you can deserve a better one. Wage slaves have options, even if they may be dismal. I was a wage slave about 15 years ago, and it was certainly far different from anything I have heard about real slavery. Even when working on about $1 over minimum wage, I could afford to go drinking with friends, play video games, have hobbies, have some limited control over my schedule, etc. My life then had more in common with my current upper middle class lifestyle than it did with actual slavery.
-- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
b/c Amazon drove most of the mom and pop stores, as well as many big box retailers like Tower Records and Virgin Music, out of business.
Mom and Pop used to work 70 hours a week keeping their stores running.
there are people in this country struggling to keep both warm and fed, they'll do any shitty job just to keep their heads above the waters financially, and that's what Amazon et al are banking millions off the back of. Welcome to the 21st fucking century...
Yes, there are many people struggling, but in comparison with other centuries they have it a heck of a lot better overall. I'd much rather be a struggling wage earner today over one 50 or a hundred years ago. Its not even close.
I suppose we'll help all these struggling workers by not buying stuff. Lets eliminate the need for the few jobs that are available!
b/c Amazon drove most of the mom and pop stores, as well as many big box retailers like Tower Records and Virgin Music, out of business.
Mom and Pop used to work 70 hours a week keeping their stores running.
They were the owners, not the hired help
You just can't dangle that claim and not tell us how. List the way, otherwise all you have is BS.
Interestingly, I drove around Seattle last week and saw half a dozen 'mom and pop' record stores and zero Tower Records.
Amazon was already well established selling CDs by then. In 1997 Amazon was big enough to be sued by Barnes and Noble, and that didn't happen by selling just "used college books".
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a million people in the world? ha, might as well have been zero for any impact, the multi-billion dollar megacorps couldn't care.
Funny, because I heard about this guy named Joseph who went from being a slave to being a high up official in Egypt. Funny how we hear different things about being a slave.