The Match Cut 2017 Political Thread (or: The Lord of the Leaks: The Trump Towers)

[baby doll]

It's a signal Bezos made his money by exploiting his employees. Amazon had a terrible reputation for the working conditions before the pandemic. Now it's just openly evil.

They also have a long history of union busting. (Most recently firing 2 vocal organizers.)

He's obviously a psychopath, and the interesting to me is that nobody cares --- not the board, the other C-suites, or the public at large. All anybody sees is the money. There's a ton of press about Amazon's nasty shit and nobody at the company attempts to mitigate it, which kinda tells you something important (and depressing).

I doubt conditions would improve for Amazon workers if the company changed its CEO. Like all other companies, Amazon treats its employees as badly as the law allows them to. Also, consumers are partly to blame for working conditions in the warehouses: Anybody who buys from Amazon because it's the cheapest, most convenient option is complicit in the company's treatment of its employees (and that includes me).

[Dukefrukem]

It's a signal Bezos made his money by exploiting his employees. Amazon had a terrible reputation for the working conditions before the pandemic. Now it's just openly evil.

How do you think Apple made their billions? Nobody cares about that because their shiny iWatch or iPhone isn't a cardboard box. Or that Steve Jobs was an open asshole deadbeat dad but people through parades for him, in the likes in which no CEO has ever saw...ever.

Is Apple donating $4 billion to COVID19 relief?

Also fuck unions. They destroy and bankrupt everything.

[baby doll]

Also fuck unions. They destroy and bankrupt everything.

You'd love working in China. If there's a public holiday (and there are about three a year), employees have to come in on Saturdays to make up the time they missed.

[Dukefrukem]

Anybody who buys from Amazon because it's the cheapest, most convenient option is complicit in the company's treatment of its employees (and that includes me).

So just don't buy from Amazon ever? Have you not been using Amazon during the lockdowns?

[Dukefrukem]

You'd love working in China. If there's a public holiday (and there are about three a year), employees have to come in on Saturdays to make up the time they missed.

I'm sure that reason is somewhere between #435-#1035 on why I would never live in China.

[baby doll]

So just don't buy from Amazon ever? Have you not been using Amazon during the lockdowns?

I do most of my shopping at CostCo.

[Irish]

How do you think Apple made their billions? Nobody cares about that because their shiny iWatch or iPhone isn't a cardboard box. Or that Steve Jobs was an open asshole deadbeat dad but people through parades for him, in the likes in which no CEO has ever saw...ever.

Other companies would recognize a potential PR disaster. Or they'd wanna, you know, actually take care of their own employees. Amazon doesn't, and I think part of that is due to arrogance (coming from Bezos) and part of it is in knowing they are untouchable (also coming from Bezos).

When the whole "Foxconn suicide" thing hit Apple, they bent over backwards to mitigate that story and eventually it disappeared. Likewise with Microsoft and their sleazy use of permanent temps on their campuses. Stories about Amazon have been published for years and Amazon doesn't address them beyond a terse press release or two. They just don't give a shit.

[Dukefrukem]

I do most of my shopping at CostCo.

Well that's my #2 favorite corporation. Costco has very fair employee relations; and they donate a portion of their revenue to local communities ever year.

[baby doll]

I'm sure that reason is somewhere between #435-#1035 on why I would never live in China.

Actually China's great for white people, because you can ride white privilege much harder than in North America. It's a supply/demand thing: Your whiteness is much more valuable there than in the US, where the market is saturated with whiteness.

Similarly, the reason China sucks for Chinese workers is they have too many people, so even if there were unions, they wouldn't have much leverage because employers can always find someone willing to do the same job for less money.

There was a good article in the Times a few weeks ago about how the Black Plague impacted the labour market in medieval Europe to the benefit of the surviving labourers.

[Dukefrukem]

Other companies would recognize a potential PR disaster. Or they'd wanna, you know, actually take care of their own employees. Amazon doesn't, and I think part of that is due to arrogance (coming from Bezos) and part of it is in knowing they are untouchable (also coming from Bezos).

When the whole "Foxconn suicide" thing hit Apple, they bent over backwards to mitigate that story and eventually it disappeared. Likewise with Microsoft and their sleazy use of permanent temps on their campuses. Stories about Amazon have been published for years and Amazon doesn't address them beyond a terse press release or two. They just don't give a shit.

Do you believe the Foxconn suicide thing is over? All those Foxconn employees (BTW, they have 800,000 emplyees.. yes 800K) assembling iPhone screens to meet the demand of apple stores are all happy now? Or is it because it's just not in the public eye, and Steve Jobs legacy remains, there's no attention from anyone, let's focus it on an Apple competitor now...

[Irish]

Also, consumers are partly to blame for working conditions in the warehouses: Anybody who buys from Amazon because it's the cheapest, most convenient option is complicit in the company's treatment of its employees (and that includes me).

It isn't just buying from Amazon-dot-com. If you wanted to cut them off, you'd have to avoid everyone Amazon hosts on AWS, their cloud service, which includes apps like Netflix and Slack and a whole host of websites from media to government: https://gizmodo.com/i-tried-to-block...ble-1830565336

But I also don't like this line of thinking because it offloads corporate responsibility onto individual citizens. (Cf: climate change, recycling, the environment-at-large.)

[Dukefrukem]

Actually China's great for white people, because you can ride white privilege much harder than in North America. It's a supply/demand thing: Your whiteness is much more valuable there than in the US, where the market is saturated with whiteness.

Similarly, the reason China sucks for Chinese workers is they have too many people, so even if there were unions, they wouldn't have much leverage because employers can always find someone willing to do the same job for less money.

There was a good article in the Times a few weeks ago about how the Black Plague impacted the labour market in medieval Europe to the benefit of the surviving labourers.

I haven't been entirely forthcoming. If my boss, gave me a hefty raise, and told me I needed to lead a project China for a year, I wouldn't hesitate to bring my family (as long a they were down with it).

[baby doll]

I haven't been entirely forthcoming. If my boss, gave me a hefty raise, and told me I needed to lead a project China for a year, I wouldn't hesitate to bring my family (as long a they were down with it).

Based on my experience, the best Chinese cities to live in are Chengdu and Qingdao; they're much less congested than Shanghai and Beijing and the climate is mild in both, although Shanghai has the edge in convenient public transportation and the variety of restaurants.

[Irish]

Do you believe the Foxconn suicide thing is over? All those Foxconn employees (BTW, they have 800,000 emplyees.. yes 800K) assembling iPhone screens to meet the demand of apple stores are all happy now? Or is it because it's just not in the public eye, and Steve Jobs legacy remains, there's no attention from anyone, let's focus it on an Apple competitor now...

No, I mean: When that happened, Apple very publicly opened an independent investigation and Tim Cook, who was then COO, went to China, toured the factories, and made a show of finding out what the hell was going on. After Jobs died, Cook became CEO and made changes to Apple's supply line and manufacturing (and continues to do so).

This sorta reminds me of the Kathy Lee Gifford sweatshop scandal in the mid-1990s. For awhile there, Gifford --- and eventually the entire fashion industry --- was under scrutiny over labor practices. Eventually, they changed they way they did business, especially with their overseas manufacturers. (They way they did it was extremely cynical but it was enough to address the crisis and for people to move on.)

But with Amazon though, there have been numerous high profile exposes about poor, high-stress working conditions and afaik those articles have changed absolutely nothing. Either in Amazon's day to day policies or the public perception of the company.

Now they're openly fucking over their employees during a pandemic, and those employees are Americans, not foreigners, and still nobody gives a shit.

It's weird.

ETA: Likewise, Microsoft's policy of using permatemps also changed in time, but it took a lawsuit and nearly a decade.

[Ezee E]

That whole strike thing must've been fake news. I haven't heard any stores or any twitter feed of people actually striking.

[Irish]

Can't tell if you're joking? It's not as if they were gonna form picket lines in front of Target and Whole Foods

[Ezee E]

Can't tell if you're joking? It's not as if they were gonna form picket lines in front of Target and Whole Foods

There's zero information of walkouts, protests.

[Irish]

How hard did you look?

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/...onditions.html

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/1/...s-chris-smalls

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN21H3AV

https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-i...ay-day-strike/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...orkers-strike/

[Ezee E]

How hard did you look?

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/...onditions.html

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/5/1/...s-chris-smalls

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-h...-idUSKBN21H3AV

https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-i...ay-day-strike/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...orkers-strike/

Weak effort.

[Irish]

Weak effort.

On your part? Yes, I agree.

[Ezee E]

On your part? Yes, I agree.

Nice one lol.

[MadMan]

Amazon and Apple both suck. Also unions did become corrupt later on but in the beginning they did a lot of good things for the American worker. No idea about China because I have never been there.

[Dukefrukem]

This is somethin'

https://www.wsj.com/articles/john-bo...cy-11592419564

[Scar]

Watching the Trump rally, jaw slightly agape, and staring blankly.

[Peng]

Watching the Trump rally, jaw slightly agape, and staring blankly.

Does the coverage you're watching have this guy?