Amazon Says It's the 'Bernie Sanders of Workplaces' Ahead of Union Vote
Amazon is desperate to seem like a "progressive" workplace despite the evidence ahead of a historic union vote.
Amazon is facing a historic unionization vote at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama next week, and the company and its executives have taken to Twitter to plead their case. Its going about as well as youd expect.
In response to news that Senator Bernie Sanders will visit Bessemer on Friday to support workers along with Danny Glover and Killer Mike, Amazon CEO of Worldwide Consumer Dave Clark tweeted that he often calls Amazon "the Bernie Sanders of employers, but that's not quite right because we actually deliver a progressive workplace."
Sanders is widely credited with pushing Amazon to pay workers $15 an hour with the Stop BEZOS Act, which would have punished companies with workers relying on government aid programs such as food stamps. This clearly irked Clark, who noted that the minimum wage in Vermont is $11.75 and tweeted, "@Sen Sanders can't even seem to influence his home state
.I can assure you while the Senator was one of many voices on this decision to lead on this was ours."
Ignoring the fact that Sanders doesnt unilaterally control the state of Vermont, the idea that Amazons $15 minimum wage makes it a progressive workplace is laughable. Amazon's minimum wage policy not only pushes wages down in the sector of warehouse work (which normally pays much more than $15 an hour), its also a cudgel for Amazon to strike against unionization efforts as Clarks tweets demonstrate.
The claim that Amazon is the Bernie Sanders of employers is way out of step with everything we know about the company. Clark, for his part, reportedly calls himself the Sniper and claims he earned that nickname by lurking in the shadows of Amazon warehouses and scoping out slackers he could fire, according to Business Standard.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvx9b5/amazon-says-its-the-bernie-sanders-of-workplaces-ahead-of-union-vote
Then there's this: