Forcing Amazon to respect its workers
Something you can do
Last month, while we were urging Drop Site readers to buy Refaat Alareer’s new book “If I Must Die,” we sent people to both Bookshop.org, which supports independent booksellers, and to Amazon, which most certainly does not. It pained me every time we included an Amazon link, but their dominance in the book industry is such that it’s effectively impossible to hit the bestseller list and avoid them.
So please consider this email today my penance: If Amazon intends to be an unavoidable fact of our daily lives, the least we can do is force them to treat their workers with dignity. As we reported earlier, Amazon workers at seven locations around the country organized a strike timed for the holidays to try to force Amazon to the bargaining table. These are workers who have already voted and decided to form a union, yet Amazon is simply refusing to recognize them or meet with them. Public pressure and striking is the only route left for those workers.
By signing the petition, you’ll not only be helping to show mass support – it already has nearly 90,000 signers – but you’ll also be giving the workers the ability to let you know about upcoming actions where public pressure can be helpful. (If you don’t want that, you can unsubscribe. You know the drill.)
Thanks for all you do,
Ryan
P.S. If you haven’t ordered Refaat’s book, you can still do that. It’s listed as “temporarily out of stock” but I’m told by the publisher, OR Books, they have a huge print run going now, so they should be shipping fairly soon.
Really?... "You may receive email updates from The Labor Force, Blue Future, Blue South, Courage California, Defeat Republicans, Demand Progress, Democracy for America Advocacy Fund, Democratic Values PAC, HollywoodDemocrats.com, Inequality Media Civic Action, Left Click, More Perfect Union, National Campaign for Justice, Other98, People for Dylan Wegela, People Power United, Progress America, Rashida Tlaib for Congress, Social Security Works, Solidarity Action, TakeItBack.Org, The Juggernaut Project, The People United, Trader Joe's United, Amazon Labor Union, Drop Site News, and Bowers News Media, the sponsors of this form."
Thank you Ryan for making this known and available. I’m 75 and live with my oldest daughter due to battling chronic late stage Lyme disease and have almost gone broke in what first was misdiagnoses, Lyme deniers, and doctors stating it’s too controversial and not enough support (though reported cases have increased 75% since 2020 when I was finally diagnosed) and going into $30,000+ debt as the doctor takes no insurance and what Medicare and RX plan denied or charged at high tiers, and services needed. I’m home bound and no longer drive. My daughter is in management and her salary includes 45 hours for added managerial work, but like many, she works closer to 50 at times. So I’m practically alone and I depend on Amazon. I wanted to see them hurt for nonunion action, what workers go through - I don’t live far from one of their “overnight warehouses”, and what Bezos has done to the WP - which I thankfully never subscribed to - by forcing people out with his stepping into editorial moves/decisions, and his giving to the president elect’s inauguration. My next step is closing accounts with Meta, and doing all I can do to support journalism - those who give us non-biased facts. I am a subscriber of Drop Site and have been a monthly donor to the Intercept for about 3-4 years. I never used Substack and thankfully Dropsite introduced me to it and so many other journalists, writers, lawyers, professors especially of history and our constitution.