Shocking Quote of the Day

<b>January 16, 2014</b><br /><a href="http://business.time.com/2014/01/16/how-amazon-crushed-the-union-movement/">Time: How Amazon Crushed the Union Movement</a><br /><br /><div style="color: red;"><b><i>Although Amazon has a high-tech image, blue-collar employees do most of the work. Invariably, they earn much less than high-paid computer programmers.</i></b></div><br />On the one hand, this is absolutely shocking. Who would have guessed that high-paid white-collar employees invariably earn more than low-paid blue-collar employees? Time hasn't shocked me this much since they declared my snowboard to be a fad in the 1980s. I believe it was doomed to go the way of the hula hoop if memory serves. Oh how I laughed over that one at the time.<br /><br /><div style="color: red;"><i>News outlets have detailed everything from the exhausting nature of warehouse work (employees can walk as much as 15 miles daily) to ambulances waiting outside a facility to collect workers who overheated because of a lack of air conditioning.</i></div><br />On the other hand, that would definitely suck (pardon my language). I've walked a lot of miles in recent years and anything over 7 miles is risking a blister or two. I can't imagine doing it every day. The thought of an ambulance waiting for me after a long shift is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake">icing on the cake</a>. I can definitely empathize with the frustration.<br /><br /><i style="color: red;">Look at the Tesla factory - what's the worker to robotic arm ratio in that factory?</i> - polarbear429 (in the comments)<br /><br />And on that third hand, the more the poorest among us are paid the sooner their jobs will be replaced by automation. Talk about a lose-lose situation for the workers. There is no backup plan once the jobs are permanently gone either, other than to pretend they will all miraculously find work elsewhere. As a side note, the more Amazon and other automated online retailers sell, the less brick and mortar retailers can sell. There are potentially <a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USTRADE">15 million retail jobs</a> at stake here, and when they go they will no doubt take others with them. Sigh.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/xZjtw6iZISE" width="420"></iframe><br /><br />This post inspired by Fritz_O who pointed out (in the comments found <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2014/01/ten-questions-for-2014.html">here</a>) that the Amazon workers opted not to unionize.

Shocking Quote of the Day

January 16, 2014 Time: How Amazon Crushed the Union Movement Although Amazon has a high-tech image, blue-collar employees do most of the wor...

Read more »