The brief walkout occurred earlier this month in Shakopee, Minnesota, but the news appeared in my alerts today in a story at Workers World. Workers World is the newspaper of the Communist Party in the US—the Workers World Party—and it’s good to read their spin on things from time to time.
I had a chuckle over the sign the workers held for a facebook picture. Corporate decision makers dilemma! Shall we put up with workers who walk out and put their fists in the air, or get more robots?
We are not robots! How ironic is that because eventually they will be out of a job because of robots—-why put up with worker demands when robots will do the job and not complain!
From Workers World,
Amazon workers walk out after grievances pile up
Workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in Shakopee, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis, escalated their campaign for workers’ rights on March 8 by carrying out a three-hour work stoppage. The strike occurred during the night shift, when a group of about 30 workers, mostly Somali immigrants, walked off the job to protest the mega-corporation’s management.
A Facebook post went viral as the workers held up a handwritten sign reading: “We are humans, not robots” and listed their complaints on a legal pad. Previously, WW reported that workers’ frustrations were intensified by a panoply of grievances with management: from lacking language translation services, to inhumane intensity of work, to racist selection of workers for promotion, to pitiful health benefits, to hiring schemes that exploit temp workers, to the need for more bathroom visits and prayer breaks. [My cynical mind says all the other grievances are window-dressing for the prayer break demands!—ed]
Amazon workers are up against a corporation unwilling to part with profits. In this 2016 story we learn that Amazon began a Robotic Workforce in Shakopee of “hundreds and hundreds” of robots! http://dailytechnewstoday.blogspot.com/2016/02/amazon-equips-new-minnesota-fulfillment.html
The Shakopee workers organized and held a rally last December — believed to be the first in the U.S. against Amazon — to show unity and express their discontent over not having a voice in how work is handled.
The Commies at Workers World do not like Jeff Bezos either!
Amazon Inc. is infamous worldwide. Its CEO, Jeff Bezos, is currently the richest person in the world, with an estimated worth of $138 billion. The profits of Amazon surged, nearly doubling, between 2017 and 2018. Yet the corporation paid no federal income taxes.
Bezos also owns The Washington Post. Media watchdog organizations point out biases in its reporting. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting asserts that the acquisition “instantly made him the most powerful media figure in the nation’s capital — a handy position to be in when your company is seeking multi-billion-dollar government contracts.”
[….]
Against such a titanic force, it could appear that Amazon has an unassailable advantage. However, these brave workers standing up for their rights and displaying collective determination will inspire the movements of tomorrow. Amazon’s burgeoning labor vanguard serves as an example to workers around the world. [These Communist advisers are dreaming!—ed]
More here. Go here for a local news report at Shakopee Valley News at the time of the walkout. Amazon robots hard at work (and not demanding prayer breaks!).
Here is one of many additional bits of information we learned. 5,000 robots!
The protesting employees published a photo on Facebook of them holding a sign saying “We are humans, not robots.” About 2,500 people and 5,000 robots work together at the massive Shakopee warehouse, packing and shipping everything from cannoli shells to glue to Meow Mix to customers all over the world.
In that 2016 report at Daily Tech News, Amazon said “hundreds and hundreds” of robots would work there, but they also said this,
Apart from the operations to begin, Amazon refused to give out the exact number of robots that will be deployed in the Minnesota fulfillment center.
Those Somali workers shilling for the Communist Party might just be out of a job altogether if they keep this up!
But, more importantly for America’s future, we should all be demanding that the flow of cheap low-skilled immigrant labor be brought to a halt.
All of the big global corporations will be moving toward a robotic labor force in many many industries in the coming years and then what do we do with all of the low-skilled laborers? Put them all on welfare and a guaranteed monthly income?
Why would they need translation services? Aren’t they fully assimilated?
Maybe someone should explain to them that learning the language of their new country and employer is a responsibility that solely sits on their shoulders, not on the shoulders of their employers or the American taxpayers. Get on it!
Stupid is as stupid does. They sound like a certain dumb & ditzy new CongressCritter. https://youtu.be/ToIbon07seI
Reblogged this on stepman2001 and commented:
Globalism and diversity. Time for Americsns First. Did you see that green cards are renewable on line but we have to jump threw hoops to renew a passport?
I was always I had a job and worked from the time I was 15. I am wondering if the people in this article would like to have no job, AND NOT RECEIVE any benefits or in other words, free everything. I worked hard and going to college after 25, on my own until I worked my way up into the job I wanted that paid well.
I hope all the Solmaii’s in MN do not feel the same way as their newly elected freshman House Representative does. If this job does not fit you then find another. It is the American way!.Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and stand with America unless you may believe that living in Solmali was better than living in the USA.,
I may add that long ago I worked beside many American Muslims and never heard one speak as the new influx of socialist in our freshman government. NEVER. Perhaps education is the answer and that does not mean a 4 year degree. Not everyone needs a 4-6 years college degree to up their salaries or this climate of finding a better job. Standing with Ihhan Omat is not a community builder but a community destructive force.
Medieval culture & religion, with no interest in assimilation. They mass breed & are forever demanding. A big problem in the waiting
But, more importantly for America’s future, we should all be demanding that the flow of cheap low-skilled immigrant labor be brought to a halt.
Why would they need translation services? Aren’t they fully assimilated?
Maybe someone should explain to them that learning the language of their new country and employer is a responsibility that solely sits on their shoulders, not on the shoulders of their employers or the American taxpayers. Get on it!
Stupid is as stupid does. They sound like a certain dumb & ditzy new CongressCritter.
https://youtu.be/ToIbon07seI
Reblogged this on stepman2001 and commented:
Globalism and diversity. Time for Americsns First. Did you see that green cards are renewable on line but we have to jump threw hoops to renew a passport?
I was always I had a job and worked from the time I was 15. I am wondering if the people in this article would like to have no job, AND NOT RECEIVE any benefits or in other words, free everything. I worked hard and going to college after 25, on my own until I worked my way up into the job I wanted that paid well.
I hope all the Solmaii’s in MN do not feel the same way as their newly elected freshman House Representative does. If this job does not fit you then find another. It is the American way!.Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and stand with America unless you may believe that living in Solmali was better than living in the USA.,
I may add that long ago I worked beside many American Muslims and never heard one speak as the new influx of socialist in our freshman government. NEVER. Perhaps education is the answer and that does not mean a 4 year degree. Not everyone needs a 4-6 years college degree to up their salaries or this climate of finding a better job. Standing with Ihhan Omat is not a community builder but a community destructive force.
Medieval culture & religion, with no interest in assimilation. They mass breed & are forever demanding. A big problem in the waiting
These Somali’s have NO rights b/c they are residents, things to be used, abused & tossed away.
Make room for the robots – you are NO LONGER needed.
Back to the Africa & take your EVIL Ilhan Omar w/ ya, as ALL MUSLIMS lie,
& are UNWELCOME in the USA.
What Amazon earns n profits is NOT your business. It is capitalism.
Start your own business – you don’t like working at AMAZON – then quit.
MUSLIMS were OUTLAWED, banned in 1952 c.e.
http://www.thepostemail.com/2015/12/08/public-law-414-june-27-1952/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1952
http://www.uscis.gov/laws/immigration-and-nationality-act
Just fire them for NON-performance.
THEY disrupted the company.
Any employer that hires MUSLIMS is an enabler –
acts contrary to the law b/c ISLAM was banned in 1952 c.e.
http://www.thepostemail.com/2015/12/08/public-law-414-june-27-1952/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1952
http://www.uscis.gov/laws/immigration-and-nationality-act