Amazon's Anti-Union Training Video [video]

Similar info from &quot;unionproof.org&quot;[1]:<p><i>Managers may notice a change in the language of employees because it becomes more formal and legal in nature. Employees may start using union words like “grievance,” “arbitration,” “job security,” “employee rights,” “prevailing wage” and “unfair labor practices.” They may also start asking their immediate supervisor or manager questions around these topics, so be sure you have a system in place for your front-line managers to report a change in employee behavior that could be an indication of organizing activity.</i><p>&quot;Union Proof Certification&quot; is a thing.<p>The Communications Workers of America describes typical employer tactics from the labor side.[2]<p>Historically, neither side is very creative, so once you know what the standard moves are, you know what to expect.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.unionproof.com&#x2F;are-you-missing-these-10-signs-of-union-organizing-activity&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.unionproof.com&#x2F;are-you-missing-these-10-signs-o...</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;unionbustingplaybook.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;unionbustingplaybook.com</a>

Absurdity of this video aside, but I just wish there was room in today&#x27;s political environment to discuss pros and cons to unions and non-unions. There are some pretty good examples of unions being corrupt, there are examples where unions work. There are examples where like Amazon says, having a direct relationship with your employer is the best. Nuance is gone which is the biggest loss.

The best&#x2F;worst parts:<p>- Valuing innovation while saying that nothing should ever change in their relationships with employees<p>- Using the words &quot;vulnerability to organizing&quot; and &quot;dangers of organizing&quot; as if it&#x27;s a terrible disease<p>- Saying that unionizing employees aren&#x27;t displaying &quot;normal behavior&quot;<p>- Calling the phrase &quot;living wage&quot; a warning sign<p>- Refusing to explain why it is that employees might want to unionize

There was a Home Depot anti-union video floating around yesterday. [1]<p>What really struck me is how much they remind me of the cringey anti-drug videos we used to watch in like middle school, “If you see a suspicious person smoking something that looks like a cigarette but smells funny, cross the street to get away. They may offer you a joint for free to get you hooked. If you smoke that joint, before you know it they’ll be giving you free crack. Cool kids just say no.”<p>I mean, obviously, just like everything, unions have pros and cons, but does this kind of cheesy fear mongering actually work? If we could see through it and make fun of it as children, surely a grown adult would find it as off putting as kids do?<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;QrmNojOCiak" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;QrmNojOCiak</a>

I love how they list &quot;living wage&quot; as a warning word.

YouTube comments are usually a cesspool, but sometimes a real gem makes it through, like this:<p><pre><code> &gt; notices another worker says &quot;grievance&quot; &gt; i was trained for this &gt; i run to the hrm &gt; i twist my ankle jumping over my piss bottles &gt; i struggle to limp through the warehouse as the other workers have to push me over so the make their times. &gt; i fall over from heat exhaustion because the hvac has never worked &gt; finally at the hrm &gt; i get fired before i can report the red scourge</code></pre>

Given the wage stagnation in the U.S. since the mid-1970s, it is fairly clear in 2019 that capital won and labor lost.

Target made one back in the day: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;TargetAnti-unionPropagandaVideo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;archive.org&#x2F;details&#x2F;TargetAnti-unionPropagandaVideo</a>

I love how they say &quot;associates&quot; instead of &quot;employees&quot;. Indeed the sheen of the coat of paint is different and shinier, but the tactics and morals are as scummy as 100 years ago.

There&#x27;s only one company whose recruiting emails ALWAYS get deleted sight unseen: Amazon. Who in their right mind would want to work for a company that encourages union busting?

Per their own words, worker unions impede &quot;speed, innovation, and customer obsession.&quot;<p>Yeah, gotta feed that customer obsession at all costs.

full 29 minutes version: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=uRpwVwFxyk4" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=uRpwVwFxyk4</a>

It&#x27;s funny how they couldn&#x27;t get an amazon warehouse employee to stand in front of a camera and read this script.

“We’re not anti-union, we’re just anti-everything-a-union-does.”

What company wishes their employees were unionized? I’ve yet to find an example of management demanding unionization of their free workforce.<p>Unions, by definition, are strictly about the collective over the individual. You must acquiesce that you have no individual value and qualities that raise you above the minimal employee in order to benefit.<p>Decisions like Janus are supremely on-point: let unions justify their existence to their own members. Forcing one to join the union as a prerequisite for employment is undeniably immoral and robs employees of free choice.

I would have thought this was parody if it hadn&#x27;t recently featured in John Oliver&#x27;s Last Week Tonight...<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=d9m7d07k22A" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=d9m7d07k22A</a>

Organized labor was extremely problematic for capital since WW2.<p>The new dealers ( FDR, Truman ) gave organized labor tremendous power because without it the USA would probably have had a big communist party.<p>They also knew the deflationary period of the 1930s lead to the rise of fascism and nationalism in Europe. So the petty greed of capital was scarified at the altar to maintain peace. They were also willing to sacrifice growth to maintain peace.<p>We are going through a similar period of deflationary shock, so it&#x27;s going to be interesting to see how it plays out and ends.<p>Most likely the source of unrest may not be US but China.

Why is anti-union a bad thing? Couldn&#x27;t resonate with the idea that union is saving workers. They are not.

If Amazon&#x27;s work force unionizes, Amazon will cease to be a dynamic company that sees rapid foreign expansion and growth in export revenue it earns for the US.<p>The US will see yet another major driver of innovation and production growth, this time the tech industry, succumb to social activists and their rent-seeking-motivated ideological narratives.<p>A century of pro-union-monopoly advocacy will not change the fact that unions as generally conceived are anti-market interventions and thus economically unsound.