😲 Union Fear Grips Amazon
Amazon workers have finally formed a union. Here's why Amazon is not happy with the move.
United we stand, divided we fall.
Sounds good as an idiom, but rarely do we see it play out in the real world. Yet one such rare instance is making waves off-late: The creation of workers' unions at Starbucks, Alphabet and now Amazon.
But why are they creating unions in the first place?
📜 A Brief History of Labour
Unions have existed in one form or another since humans first began to trade.
Though they died down for a while when the Industrial Revolution began, they eventually caught on during the late 19th century as workers came together to enforce their rights.
But what are unions and why are they even needed?
Unions are when a whole workforce comes together with the determination to better their working conditions and that of others.
It is because of unions that we have concepts like an 8-hour workday and a 5-day workweek.
It is because of unions that we have benefits like paid time off, workers' compensation and health insurance.
It is because of unions that workers can earn 11.5% more by doing no extra work and get about 25% more annual leaves.
Yes, just being a part of a union gives you so many benefits.
After all, unity does have strength.
But while unions still hold some importance in India and some other countries, they have mainly died out in the US. Why?
Well, there are many reasons. The main one is that unions are perceived as communist*, a philosophy that the US is strictly against.
And taking advantage of this sentiment, many companies have been preventing workers from unionising. They are paying millions to labour consultants to shut down union formation.
Now, you must be wondering that not everyone belongs to a union. If they are doing okay, why do others need one?
Safety needs to be provided to the weak and oppressed, not to the strong and mighty.
Unions give you a bargaining chip.
If your employer is not giving you fair wages, fires you without just cause, or is making you work more hours than required, then you alone cannot do anything.
Especially if you need the job.
But if you were a part of a union that involved most of your workforce, then you could have better bargaining power.
Most employers are exploiting workers. So, there is a major need for unions.
Let's take a look at Amazon.
An average Amazon warehouse worker in the US earns $31,390 or $16/hour: an amount Jeff Bezos earns in approximately 13 seconds.
And that's not all. Amazon warehouses have the highest injury rate in the US (80% higher than its competitors) because of the punishing targets that the company sets.
Things have become so bad that delivery drivers often have to pee in bottles to complete their targets.
To resolve these issues and more, workers of the Staten Island Amazon warehouse have finally voted that it wants to unionise.
But the company is not happy with this move and is trying to push for re-election.
Sounds like union policing is extremely necessary? It needn't always be the case. Unions put too much power in the hands of the workers. These companies now have to spend a lot of money to give workers proper wages and better working conditions.
If not, then workers will walk out.
For Amazon, which now literally sells speed, this would be devastating.
Plus, one union could inspire other warehouse workers to unionise as well.
While this will benefit a lot of people, it could also have a few drawbacks:
👉🏻 the productivity of companies could go down due to frequent walkouts and strikes. This would be bad for both the company and its shareholders.
👉🏻 a few workers could use the power of unions for their own ulterior motives.
Also, frequent strikes and tussles could end up being bad for the future of innovation as a whole.
🔎 The Situation in India
While India already has several unions across fields and sectors, what we really need is an umbrella union for gig workers or independent contractors. Like Zomato's delivery people or Uber's drivers.
These gig workers don't get the same benefits as regular workers and are facing major workplace issues.
For instance, the salaried staff working at Urban Company get paid leaves and regular working hours.
But the workers providing services to you at your home have to pay commissions on every appointment they book, pay fees for cancellation, and can even get terminated if they get too many bad reviews.
To protest these unjust working conditions, several female workers at Urban Company held a strike recently.
But to improve the conditions of the gig economy as a whole, we need an umbrella union, which would have higher bargaining power.
This could revolutionise the entire gig economy.
But India has proposed new labour laws, which include conditions that will put restrictions on a union's ability to strike, which is its key power (If you want to know more about the new Labour Laws and their impact, let us know on WhatsApp).
In a line: Unions are emerging and are challenging the traditional work structure where employers call all the shots. But India's proposed labour laws could threaten their supremacy here.
Food for thought: While creating this piece, we realised that Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) could be a form of Workers’ Union too. You can read our deep dive on DAOs here.
Quick question: Do you think India should have a white-collar workforce union? What role should it play? Do share your thoughts on Twitter or LinkedIn.
*Noob's Corner: The idea of unions was strongly proposed by Karl Marx, a philosopher who came with the idea of communism. Communism is a philosophy that says that power should belong to the workers and not their employers. It states that a company's profits should be divided equally and equitably among all.
Share this with your friends via WhatsApp or Twitter and help them declutter news from noise! See you tomorrow :)
You can also listen to our stories. Catch it on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, Gaana or Jio Saavn.
If you are coming here for the very first time: Don’t forget to join us on WhatsApp to get daily updates! 👇
Great article! Very well structured and articulated.