>>But, it's common around here to have multiple unions in 1 company.
that is not the US system and why I personally get sooo frustrated with Europeans commenting on US labor relation, and US Unions. Europeans look at the issue from their lens, of their laws, and their unions which is completely different from the US. You can not compare the two at all.
At best in the US if you happen to be in a right to work state you can choose not the join the (and I mean THE, singular) union that represents the work force at the company. that is a "labor" union
The closest we have to EU style unions would be a trade union, but even then normally there is a single union that represents a trade, like the "Screen Actors Guild" for actors. There are not multiples.
>Specifically for Amazon, we've never heard much about Walmart or anti-walmart rhetoric over here.
Anti-Walmart rhetoric started to die off around 2010.
>Things like the bottle peeing are new around here, and confirmed by other parties than the unions.
It is in the US as well, and i take these stories with extreme skepticism.
>The underlying general idea around Amazon seems that it tries to import an US-style no-rights-worker model into Europe
Again the US has plenty of labor laws, the primary difference between the US and Europe is the amount of required paid benefits an employer must offer, but abusive actions (such as forcing an employee to pee in a bottle) is no more legal in the US than in Europe
> If that takes root, we're all worse off.
I have no problems with US Labor laws, remember the US is very individualist, and for the most part, most of the population prefers this. I have no desire to have the government dictate to me and my employer how many vacation days I have must have or things like that. I am not soo extreme as I to say all labor laws should go away, I think laws that prevent true abuse (like requiring an employee to pee in a bottle, or requiring employees to stand for hours off the clock at security check points unpaid) are area's where the government can and should step in, but that is where it should end.