Sorry, Mr. President, Amazon Isn’t the Place to Go for Good Jobs
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In his speech in Chattanooga, Tenn., yesterday, President Obama rightfully called out for an increase in jobs that pay high wages and offer good benefits, what he called “middle class jobs,” and for a focus on creating manufacturing jobs. While those are laudable goals, Obama chose to give a speech about these topics at the Amazon Chattanooga Fulfillment Center, a location that neither pays those good wages and benefits nor is a place that offers manufacturing jobs.
According to various reports, many of the 15,000 jobs at the 70-plus warehouses around the world pay $12.50 per hour. Most workers have no health care (unless they pay for it themselves) or paid leave. Full-time employees do have health insurance, 401(k) funds and get stock shares, but most employees are not full-time.
Work conditions at the fulfillment centers are widely reported to be horrible. Workers report walking 10 miles or more on the average day, often in blistering heat. Workers were regularly sent to the emergency room after working in temperatures that sometimes exceeded 110 degrees. Morning Call reported that at least one location hired a paramedic to wait outside closed warehouse doors to treat employees who fainted or were suffering from dehydration.
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Another key for manufacturing jobs is the right to organize and collectively bargain with management. The Seattle Times notes that unions are unwelcome at Amazon.
Early on, Amazon took a hard line against unions. A high-profile organizing effort by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) at an Amazon call center in Seattle ended in 2001, when the center was shut down and some 400 workers were laid off as part of a larger company restructuring.
Fulfillment center workers say that they were forced to attend a meeting once a year where the company would denigrate unions and warn employees against joining them.
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http://blog.workingamerica.org/2013/08/01/sorry-mr-president-amazon-isnt-the-place-to-go-for-good-jobs/
President Walking Shoes doesn't seem to know what a good job is.