'Being homeless is better than working for Amazon'
theguardian.com
theguardian.com
Working in an Amazon warehouse is a pretty average blue-collar job these days. You're a slave to the time clock, you're on your feet all day, walking miles and miles, but other than that there's no real extremes. In every job you're expected to get a # of parts out per hours or ship so many package.
But the good thing about an Amazon warehouse, is you're not standing next to a heat-treating oven, sweating your bag off. You're not mixing dangerous chemicals that could poison you and requires you to wear an uncomfortable ventilation system or suit.
There are no fiberglass matting slivers to get in your arms or eyes. There are no 20 ton presses that will crush you in the blink of an eye. You're not outside in the freezing cold. You're not standing around in a meat freezer hacking away at a side of beef with a giant knife.
Is it the greatest job in the world? No, but there are a limited supply of those and competition for them is very high. Is it worst job? Far from it. And 30 years ago it would have been considered pretty cushy.
Quoting from http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2393303,00.asp :
> One worker, 34-year-old Elmer Goris, said that on hot days, he saw co-workers being brought out of the non-air conditioned facility in wheelchairs and on stretchers by paramedics. Temperatures inside the Lehigh Valley warehouse reached above 100 degrees on some hot days, according to The Morning Call.
> Goris said warehouse managers refused to open the facility's doors on hot days to let more air circulate through the space, citing theft prevention as the reason at meetings with employees. ...
> But brutal summer working conditions were not the only grievance with Amazon voiced by the workers at the Lehigh Valley warehouse.
> They say that Amazon and local temp agency Integrity Staffing Solutions took advantage of high unemployment in the area to churn through a steady stream of temporary employees who were promised a path to permanent work with benefits that rarely materialized.
You wrote: "You're not outside in the freezing cold. You're not standing around in a meat freezer hacking away at a side of beef with a giant knife"
Quoting from http://articles.mcall.com/2011-11-05/news/mc-allentown-amazo... , regarding the same warehouse:
> Multiple warehouse workers were treated at hospitals for exposure after being outside, without coats, in temperatures below freezing for prolonged periods, including one night for about two hours, according to OSHA records.
> Workers interviewed said Amazon forced them to remain huddled in the parking lot on frigid nights while many workers were wearing only shorts and T-shirts. After attendance was taken to make sure all employees evacuated, warehouse workers said they were not allowed to go to their cars to keep warm. Instead, they were instructed by warehouse managers to use one another's body heat and told that anyone caught going to their cars would be disciplined and could be terminated, workers said.
"Pretty cushy"?
Let's not glorify either side.
By the way, union penetration in the US peaked at something like 30% and has been slipping ever since (to about 15% of private sector jobs today).
Just for our information: did you work in an Amazon warehouse?
Eek, I hope not. That doesn't bode well for blue-collar work in America. Working at an amazon warehouse will net you roughly $13/hr according to Glassdoor, which will put you roughly $10k above the poverty line.
Unfortunately, outside of skilled trades, blue-collar work in America is slowly disappearing and being replaced with jobs like this. I had a really rough time surviving on $13/hr in college (granted I wasn't working full time), raising a family on that seems damn near impossible.
For 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year at $13, your salary would be ca. $25k. A household with two working adults at that kind of salary would fit pretty close to the median.
This isn't even to mention the costs you're incurring by requiring two working spouses: now childcare becomes a recurring cost, maternity leave needs to be short (or non-existent in the case of paternity leave).
Doesn't bode well for blue-collar jobs if warehouse work is the average blue-collar job.
Compare this to what I would consider the remaining true "blue-collar" jobs - skilled trades. The median salary is roughly e.g. $52K for a plumber. That household could absorb the cost of only having one working spouse temporarily (or permanently) - the warehouse family really can't.
The story is inconsistent. Begging and "writing" is morally superior to being "working poor?" And then they cannot find any other job with their degrees because of their grievance with Amazon? And then they like being homeless because they used to work at a camping store?
They cannot accept charity from family but they beg in front of a Whole Foods?
If this is the poster child for the anti-Amazon movement, Amazon has nothing to worry about.
"I’ve worked for places to live in Oregon, mostly cooking and feeding families. It was a kind of Maoist re-education program– a little too much like slavery for my comfort."
The author's sense of self-entitlement is nauseating.
Seriously, slavery? You'd think a humanities student would have at least some basic perspective of the world.
A quick google reveals the authors bio "I taught ESL in South Korea for more than two years, traveled Asia, been around the Caribbean and zig-zagged the U.S. I worked at the Chicago Board Options Exchange and the Chicago Brauhau." - she also has a degree in Journalism with a focus on news editorial
It seems hard to believe someone with that background would be unable to figure out things like food stamps.
2. It turns out she and her combination of a degree is useless, because she ended up working at Amazon packing boxes.
3. She hated her job, so she ended up quiting. Good!
4. I respect that even after it's not her problem, she stands up against poor working conditions at Amazon by writing articles.
5. It's unclear why she can't find a job after Amazon, or why she is homeless. She writes: "I’ve applied for many jobs, and any prospective employer that runs a Google search of my name can see my discontent with my last employer." But that's bogus, I think many employers outside the tech sector will not Google you.
6. The ending of the article really falls apart for me. She says "I learned to live without money and without a home ... I know how to live outside. I refuse to live within oppressive walls." But then she says "I need cash and an opportunity. Anything!", and later "I became a capitalist."
The takeaway of the article for me is that there are probably issues around Amazon's working conditions and that the writer of this article has made some bad decisions that she needs to work out and stop blaming Amazon and whoever else.
Earlier in the article she says "I cashed in on my excellent credit, took out cards, and used them to pay rent and buy food because it would be six months before I could receive my first unemployment compensation check."
http://www.thelocal.de/20140427/saab-fighter-jet-deal-up-in-... http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/17/us-amazon-germany-...
That's a really curious statement. I suppose that she is succeeding in a form of marketing, and the value she's producing is an emotional salve on those that are wealthier than her and wish to help out or assuage their own guilt?
>I have been published in a scholarly journal and a social-justice oriented website.
Ah.
>My wallet does not contain a single bill. I need glasses. I need winter clothes. I need cash and an opportunity. Anything!
Anything except making $13 an hour taking things off of shelves? I mean...c'mon. Glasses, winter clothes etc. aren't that expensive. Check out coastal.com, go to goodwill.
Maybe that just doesn't make as good of a story for "social justice oriented websites"