Amazon the modern Overseer

LINK

This link describes the harsh and surveillance heavy working conditions at Amazon.

It mentions that only in Germany, where they have excellent union like committees, are they ever challenged. In the US and UK for example, the union hating countries, Amazon gets away with this without opposition.

The link describes a cult-like atmosphere of brainwashing at Amazon…

Where they call their factories "Fulfillment centers” FulFILL Jeff Bezos's pockets

For example at there huge work centers …”in Arizona, is the size of twenty-eight football fields”

Something the call a “functional foremen” (OVERSEERIS A BETTER WORD) watches the workers every second

Amazon’s system of employee monitoring is the most oppressive I have ever come across and combines state-of-the-art surveillance technology
Machines measured whether the packers were meeting their targets for output per hour and whether the finished packages met their targets for weight and so had been packed “the one best way.” But alongside these digital controls there was a team of Taylor’s “functional foremen,” overseers in the full nineteenth-century sense of the term, watching the employees every second to ensure that there was no “time theft,” in the language of Walmart.

The functional foreman would record how often the packers went to the bathroom and, if they had not gone to the bathroom nearest the line, why not.

On the packing lines there were six such foremen, one known in Amazonspeak as a “coworker” and above him five “leads,” whose collective task was to make sure that the line kept moving. Workers would be reprimanded for speaking to one another or for pausing to catch their breath (Verschnaufpause) after an especially tough packing job.

In our conservative hate union age it’s inevitable
And its only going to get worse

Are these people forced to work there at gunpoint?

Ive had jobs that would put a north korean gulag to shame, Thing is though, I left and didn't come back.

We need to start speaking from our wallets and our feet if we cannot with out voices and votes.

The future will only change if we take the steps to change it.

Also, this kinda abuse needs to be exposed.

Shame is the best way in our social media world to flip the bird to these kinda companies.

a reply to: Willtell

Anyone who disagrees with their working environment should buff up their resume and start looking for another job. Bad jobs exist, good jobs exist. In the USA, we get to choose where we work, unlike some countries such as North Korea where a worker might not be permitted to exercise free choice. If one is unhappy at Amazon, one should use their freedom of choice to choose another company.

a reply to: Willtell

The UK hates unions?

I disagree and so does this link.

Also, no one is being forced to work there. Don't like it? Leave.

a reply to: ColaTesla

Sure then they can get a job at Burger King next to you

If you find a job you love.. You will never work again.

originally posted by: Willtell
a reply to: ColaTesla

Sure then they can get a job at Burger King next to you

I own my own company now.

a reply to: Willtell

It's no surprise. I've heard the "Amazon Echo" bluetooth speaker records what people say without them knowing and uploads it to a Cloud for someone to surveil

a reply to: Willtell

I just finished a job installing a conveyor system in a "fufillmint center". Training and shipping was going on during the last month. I did find the atmosphere to be a little "cultish" but not terriable, and talking to some of the people, it was the best money, and best coditions, they had ever seen.

a reply to: Willtell

In Germany they forced people to work at amazon for free or else they would loose their benefits. Which isnt just bad for the people being exploited by amazon it is also anti competitive for other businesses...... who don't get free workers.

The best thing we can all do is just not shop at this beast company.

a reply to: Willtell

Amazon also pays it's warehouse (fulfillment center) employees 20-30% higher than average, and pays college tuition for in-demand jobs totally unrelated to Amazon. Apparently it's a a job for those willing to work very hard for a better life.

They have been sued in the past for skimping on pay, but have since corrected that, and improved working conditions (i.e. indoor temperature.)

Amazon even offers bonuses for employees to quit, an offer very few take. In other words, the hard work is worthwhile.

My job is on another scale - I make the same $100-150k/year I used to make sitting at a desk for 35 hours/week, taking 3 hour lunches when I wanted to, and playing volleyball for 2 hours twice a week. Only now, I work an odd schedule, 50-55 hours a week, NON-STOP hard work, only keeping up by being the picture of efficiency. I love it, and I would never go back to kicking my feet up.