> The ALU may ask you to sign an authorization card or share a QR code to fill out an online authorization card.
> <i>This is a legally binding document</i><p>Ooh scary ... is the employment contract signed by Amazon's employees not legally binding? How is it Amazon's business what their grown-ass employees can or cannot sign?<p>> By signing a card or filling out an online authorization form, you are providing the ALU your personal information.<p>Like Amazon monitoring my spending habits?<p>> By signing a card or filling out an online authorization form, you are authorizing the ALU to speak on your behalf.<p>And thats terrible how?<p>> The ALU is not part of Amazon and does not represent Amazon<p>Thats the whole point.
Realistically an Amazon-wide union is the only way Amazon workers are going to get decent wage increases. If the USA is going to allow manufacturers to outsource the majority of well-paid (~$30/hr avg) manufacturing jobs to Mexico and China, without having any cross-border capital flow penalities (neoliberal globalism in a nutshell), then the major employers like Amazon and Walmart are going to have to double their wages.<p>Yes, that means less for the executives and shareholders. They may have to sell some of their properties, oh dear.
People nowadays have no memory of the decades of struggle, sacrifice to win the rights we currently have. Unions are the most effective tool the working class has to affect change where they spend a majority of their waking life. No wonder why its demonized at every possible instance.
> By signing a card or filling out an online authorization form, you are authorizing the ALU to speak on your behalf.<p>Yeah, they were great at listening before.<p>Also, where are these unions where the people in it aren't the people it represents. Recently, a school board election ad, "we have to stop the teachers union and start listening to teachers." Well, who the hell is in the teachers union if not teachers?
mrits: "You guys love the police union too, right? Right???"<p>The general idea, yeah. It proves how strong a union can be.<p>The implementation? No. A union for people who have monopoly on violence? No. A union that protects people who are actively hurting civilians without recourse? No.
I was with Amazon working in tech for over 10 years.<p>I lost control of my health, my hair turned white, and during that time I lost most of my friends. It’s obviously my own fault for letting all that happen.<p>Of all the companies in the world, Amazon is probably one of the coldest, soulless places.<p>Management is riddled with politics and third rate talent who’ll often knowingly do the wrong thing, just to get promoted.<p>The people who actually drove the innovation, who weren’t necessary easier to work with but at least had some technical vision and production vision have all left.<p>A significant piece of the company is all just legacy systems and tech debt, supported by Indian H1Bs who hire more H1Bs.<p>If the government breaks up AWS and the rest of Amazon, most of their domains won’t make business sense anymore. There are too many middle men who are against this though - everyone from companies that help people relocate, to vendors that provide special tax services for the H1B army.<p>I hope Amazon fully unionizes. Even in tech, it was a grueling, toxic place to work.
No doubt that Amazon is being scummy here, but you can’t quote someone/something and put a phrase (“don’t sign”) in quotations unless it’s a direct quote…