Hacker News Reader

Comment by gruez | Hacker News Reader

> The employer is literally coercing the employee into attending these "information" sessions by threatening their survival, and it needs to stop.

I don't get it. The employer is paying you for your time. Why does it matter whether it's stacking boxes or sitting in front of a TV?

> This is not a free association any more than you "choosing" to drive on the correct side of the road, when the alternative is to starve, or miss rent / mortgage.

Are they threatening to fire the employees if they form a union?

View on HN

"Are they threatening to fire the employees if they form a union?"

Not in an overt way that you could take to the NLRB...they aren't dumb. But the message is often clear enough. For example:

"At a mandatory meeting Thursday for workers, where the warehouse’s leadership pressed its case to vote against the union, the 51-year-old rebutted the company’s suggestions that the RWDSU’s goal was to raise money to pay for union leaders’ cars and meals. One Amazon manager took a picture of his employee badge, a tactic Richardson believed was intended to intimidate him."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/03/09/amazon-...

Boxes don't spew propaganda at you while you stack them. At least not yet.

Edit: Yep, predictable. Y'all want to upvote "fingers crossed for yes," but then downvote for suggesting employers shouldn't be able to propagandize against unions. Let's just make it go away rather than have a discussion, yeah?

Edit in response to your edit: no, but they're literally threatening to fire anyone who doesn't sit and listen to their propaganda. Amazon doesn't give a relative shit if they fire you, but you sure do if you don't have $400 to your name.

I was about to reply "At least not yet", but your edit beat me to the punch!

I'm sorry. I wish I didn't need to add that.

To be clear, Amazon REQUIRES workers to attend its "information sessions" while at work. Union organizers have no comparable power. To say that it's fair because the time is paid for is just whistling Dixie--Amazon is using its power to feed employees their propaganda with great efficiency. This is a brazen psychological asymmetry, and parity of information (in all forms--including time spent considering valid arguments pro or con, etc.) means everything when it comes to fairness in group decision-making processes.

> Why does it matter whether it's stacking boxes or sitting in front of a TV?

Should it be OK if the company shows an anti-LGBTQ video or religious propaganda? There should obviously be limits to what an employer can coerce their employees into watching, and I think the vast majority of employees would agree that they shouldn't have to watch anti-union or other politically-charged propaganda.

Diversity training? The former president banned it and people have been fired for not attending. Seems quite "politically-charged".

Treating people with respect is politically charged, but it shouldn't be. The side of that argument that thinks racial slurs, sexual advances, hurtful stereotypes and treating employees differently because of race, religion or sexuality should be OK in a workplace is wrong. It's no more propaganda than telling people not to punch each other or spit in each others faces.

> I don't get it. The employer is paying you for your time. Why does it matter whether it's stacking boxes or sitting in front of a TV?

Just because I signed a contract that I'm willing to stack boxes for X amount of money doesn't mean they can tell me to clean toilets or manage a team.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com