Praise Boss When morning Work bells chime，Praise Boss， for bits of Overtime。Praise Boss， whose Wars we love to fight，Praise Boss， the leech and parasite。 AhBoss。 - IWW Doxology Interested to read if Brad Stone just fawns over “the richest and therefore must be the smartest” Bossy boots gazillionaite Bezos or dares look at Amazon’s ‘lies， deception and illegal activities’（Probably not！ Like 2021 Academy award winning film Nomadland skip through the exploitation @Amazon described in the original Praise Boss When morning Work bells chime，Praise Boss， for bits of Overtime。Praise Boss， whose Wars we love to fight，Praise Boss， the leech and parasite。 AhBoss。 - IWW Doxology Interested to read if Brad Stone just fawns over “the richest and therefore must be the smartest” Bossy boots gazillionaite Bezos or dares look at Amazon’s ‘lies， deception and illegal activities’（Probably not！ Like 2021 Academy award winning film Nomadland skip through the exploitation @Amazon described in the original book。）The US union that took on Jeff Bezos in AlabamaHollywood stars， journalists， political leaders， everyone wanted to see an elected union at Amazon’s Bessemer facility in Alabama。 Except the workers。 Did pressure from Amazon make them say no to union representation？ - by Maxime RobinThe activists who organised a referendum on unionisation in March at BHM1， the huge Amazon fulfilment centre in Bessemer， Alabama， like to make David and Goliath comparisons。 That’s understandable — the warehouse workers， almost all of them African American， took on one of the world’s most powerful companies， owned by Jeff Bezos， the world’s richest man， in one of the US’s most conservative states。But in the Bible， David defeated the giant， while at Amazon， Goliath crushed David。 Of the 5，805 employees at the eight-hectare site， only 738 voted for a union， and 1，798 against。 Stuart Appelbaum， president of the Retail， Wholesale and Department Store Union （RWDSU）， immediately challenged the result， accusing Amazon of ‘lies， deception and illegal activities’ to influence the outcome。 Having thwarted a previous attempt to unionise in Delaware in 2014， the online retailer has confirmed its reputation as a fortress impregnable to workers’ organisations。In the US， unionising a workplace is an arduous process。 An employee must first reach out to a union — in this case a BMH1 employee called the RWDSU last August — which then has to prove to the independent federal labour agency， the National Labor Relations Board （NLRB）， that 30% of on-site workers want to unionise。 Then， after a union drive， there’s a vote。 And the union battle has to be fought one factory， hypermarket or fast-food outlet at a time: if Bessemer had voted yes， the situation in Amazon’s other fulfilment centres would not have changed。 For employees， this process means a long， hard slog and， in the event of defeat， possible reprisals — often dismissal — for those who led the drive。 Unsurprisingly， only 6。3% of private-sector workers in the US are in a union。 Full article: 3 825 words。 Wherever you are， whatever you do there is a Union for you。Notes: （1） ‘Map of Amazon warehouses’， CNBC， 19 January 2020。（2） Karen Weise， ‘Pushed by pandemic， Amazon goes on a hiring spree without equal’， The New York Times， 27 November 2020。（3） Francesca Paris， ‘ “The gaps have grown”: Reporter Alec MacGillis talks Amazon， regional inequality and his hometown of Pittsfield’， Berkshire Eagle， Pittsfield， 7 April 2021。（4） See ‘Presidential results’， 2016 and 2020， National Public Radio。（5） Quoted in Sarah Jones， ‘ “It’s not fair to get fired for going to the bathroom”: An Amazon worker in Alabama on the fight for a union’， New York Magazine， 16 March 2021， www。nymag。com/。（6） See Sylvie Laurent， ‘Martin Luther King fifty years on’， Le Monde diplomatique， English edition， April 2018。（7） Referring to the 1965 marches between Selma and Montgomery to protest against the ban on blacks voting in the US South。（8） Lee Fang， ‘Amazon hired Koch-backed anti-union consultant to fight Alabama warehouse organizing’， The Intercept， 10 February 2021。（9） David Streitfeld， ‘How Amazon crushes unions’， New York Times， 16 March 2021。（10） Joe Nocera， ‘Unions are back in favour。 They need to seize the moment’， Bloomberg Businessweek， 21 March 2021。Sauce: https://mondediplo。com/2021/05/02amazon 。。。more