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Comment by kayodelycaon | Hacker News Reader

> Yes, Bezos does not want an amazon union and won't just let it happen without a fight. Same as always.

Which is, if I recalled correctly, illegal.

Law is meaningless when there are a lot of money/power involved. After all it's the ruling class who made them.

While true, it need not. be this way. Elite rich american failure to follow the letter and spirit of the law trickles down way faster then economics.

Not in democracies. It does make it somewhat harder though.

Democracies or not, regardless, I think the key for citizens is to have both a scientific mind as well as a fighting spirit. Lack of either would be a disaster.

So that it's pretty costly for the ruling class to push ordinary people around. Not that they can't, I mean they still control the army and police so technically they can still do whatever they want, but in reality it's going to be very expensive, financially and politically to push people around if ordinary people possess both qualities.

Didn't stop Google from firing two employees in regards to union organizing. It doesn't matter what they did, if the NLRB is backing the employees, the company is in the wrong. Having to wait for a government agency to respond to your case of being wrongfully terminated is a PITA as it is. The fact that they determined the employee was conducting protected behavior which Google actively disagrees with just goes to show these companies are so large they're more than willing to just eliminate union organizers and wait for the government to tell them they broke the law as opposed to ensuring they follow it in the first place.

See also Google conspiring to suppress worker wages for many years until they were caught and given a slap on the wrist.

For those who are not familiar, Adobe, Apple, Google, Intel, Intuit, Pixar, Lucasfilm and eBay all colluded with one another to keep tech worker compensation below its market value[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Tech_Employee_Antitrust_L...

> Which is, if I recalled correctly, illegal

Retaliation against employees is illegal. Shutting down a unionised facility is not.

Maybe in spirit.

In reality, bezos and any future amazon union are opposed to one another. That's a pretty firmly embedded truism in union thinking too. No point getting outraged over the trite.

Also, this is not even amazon getting serious yet. Imagine what happens when/if amazon union organisers ever make a credible effort.

Don't underestimate what a desperate individual will do when they've lost everything to Bezos greed.

Not if you're rich

Maybe, but that doesn't make it right, and it won't change unless people are aware of it and fight against it, which is why this article is pointing it.

Depends how you fight. Some union busting tactics are illegal, others legal and a few skirt the borders of illegality.

Even if they do do it illegally, the justice department has to be motivated to go after them. Which, with a Biden administration that is close to Bezos is unlikely:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-tech/amazon-...

These workers can't really rely on the justice Department.

>Which is, if I recalled correctly, illegal.

Entirely legal in a "Right to work" state.

Down vote me all you want, its 100% the truth. Don't like it? Contact your representatives in the state legislature and get these laws repealed.

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