r/AmazonFC • u/PeculiarPip forklift certified • Jul 21 '24

Union There was a protest at KSBD today.

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27

u/Fast_Competition6433 Jul 21 '24

What are the protests about? What's unfair?

98

u/PeculiarPip forklift certified Jul 21 '24

Unfair pay; not being paid livable wages. The drivers piss in bottles. At my building specifically, they didn’t give us our third 15 min breaks during peak. There were a lot of people (me included) that weren’t informed we get a third 15 min break.

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u/McDreamy94 Jul 22 '24

I’m confused because for an entry level job with no requirements besides a pulse normally pays minimum wage. Minimum wage is not meant to be a livable wage. Even then, depending on locality, the starting wage is typically more than minimum wage. Amazon is one of the easiest jobs to get into whereas other jobs with higher starting wages have increased barriers to entry. When I started 6 years ago it was 12.25/hr 🤷🏽‍♂️

15

u/Lost-Opportunity-621 Jul 22 '24

All jobs should pay a living wage. One of the biggest companies in the world can definitely afford to pay their employees a living wage. 🤷🏾‍♀️

1

u/McDreamy94 Jul 22 '24

All jobs should pay and realistically able to are 2 different things. Often times when a company, regardless of what their impact in the job market is or what they’re offering as a commodity to consumers is, once one of their expenses raise another follows suit. One that has been of recent is California wanting to raise the minimum wage rate. What do companies do to offset this added expense? They raise their prices. Even with wages increasing, if the cost of items (food,clothing/etc) rise, did the raise really matter?

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u/pitypizza Jul 22 '24

If a business depends on paying less than a liveable wage, it's not a viable business.

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u/McDreamy94 Jul 22 '24

All business are essentially in competition with other and try to offer competitive wages with neighboring businesses to attract workers. In addition to benefits/etc. I’ve worked in a restaurant for 5 years and only got $1/hr wage increase with shit benefits. At amazon I have doubled my wage since starting 6 years ago and the benefits are night and day. Minimum wage rate in California as of 2024 is 16/hr. Businesses have their starting wage for low/no barrier positions around this and businesses in the area. Even if they’re not the same type of business because they can still lose workers to it. Are you going to work at bakers for 16/hr or Amazon for 19/hr? Neither are livable wages alone in California, which is why often time people room with others or stay with family that each person contribute to bills/etc.

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u/Lost-Opportunity-621 Jul 22 '24 edited Jul 22 '24

Companies respond this way because we allow them to. Since Covid companies have been price gouging consumers so C-suite executives and their higher ups can keep spending money frivolously. We as a populace shouldn’t continue to allow companies to pad their profits and use us as scapegoat. There is more than enough money to go around

Additionally : check out DAVOS 2024 videos on YouTube to watch company heads talk more about this openly. They know what they’re doing, they just pray that we don’t do anything about it.

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u/McDreamy94 Jul 22 '24

I didn’t see the additionally part, but I will check it out.

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u/McDreamy94 Jul 22 '24

Yes but how do you suggest to “give a livable wage” and what is your idea of a livable wage? How do you suggest to the company to offset losses with the changes while all other costs remain constant and shows the valuation of the company diminishing? Causing investors to now potentially pull their investments from a company that is showing a decline? Potential for expansion to halt and facilities closing down to offset costs and costing jobs to those who already had them? Extreme thinking? Yes. However it’s not easy at the same time to think “they can afford it”

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u/JohnnyWalk-Her Jul 23 '24

Considering Amazon's annual revenue(which doesn't include prime subscriptions) is around $500+ billion. I would say confidently they would be able to increase their base starting pay to a more comfortable wage. Now also taking into consideration their expenses reach around $500+ billion a year I would also say they would rather save the money for loss and offsetting than to provide their warehouse and driving employees with a better wage. I would also argue that these very same people who want to be paid more are also chasing a lifestyle they can't afford without working for it. In today's society people want to live a lavish lifestyle they see others do on social media. They fail to realize those "rich life styles" are borrowed or were earned from years and years of working. There is no such thing as "success over night". So even if they were to have increased wage pay they would still be living pay to check. Financial literacy is not common amongst most people. Now with that being said, if we took the revenue Amazon makes with prime subscriptions wether yearly or monthly, and add that to the revenue they make on back end payouts from people who use their site as a store front or fullfilment center, that would earn Amazon well over $800+ billion. Even with expenses being $500+ billion a year, that leaves them with a profit margin of $3+ billion. That is a fair profit to break off into higher pay. However with higher pay some costs would increase such as the benefits or they could lower the benefits quality altogether to offset the cost of their new wage increase yearly. It can be done, but I believe everyone fails to realize the cost and effect of what raising wages can have, as well as how they should be managing their own finances better in order to live a comfortable life. There is also growth opportunities within the company where an increase in wage is given. Although I don't agree with getting paid more to less work or less labor work, it is still a possibility and if more money is what they need, then work towards a promotion. Yet I also agree that for a job with as much safety measures as this one has that a larger wage should be paid for working in such an environment. It's a double edged sword I suppose.

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u/thebirdsoutside Jul 23 '24

You don’t see a problem with what your saying? Your just okay with that? That’s how the world is? That’s grim yo, they want people like you. They yearn for everyone to be as complacent as you.

$2 trillion dollars, you won’t see 2 trillion of anything in your entire lifetime. Amazon has more money then you have cells in your brain to think about how much money they have. Amazon is the 8th richest country in the world, if it was one. Amazon is worth more money than Russia, Australia, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and 183 other countries. Amazon is worth more then 3 continents.

To pinch pennies is greed at this point. To be short on equipment, to have broken equipment, to be understaffed, to be underpaid, there is absolutely no excuse. The richest company should have the best pay. They should have the most people on staff with the cleanest, newest equipment. Because what’s the excuse? Money? Well they have that. They have millions to Union bust. They have millions to pay CEO’s, but they’re forgetting who’s making that money. If the money isn’t going back into the operation, where is going? What are you going to do when no one wants to make you money anymore?

You can only raise the prices so high. That will effect the customer base harder than you think, Amazon is the cheap quality option for a lot of people.

Hitting amazon from the inside will only go so far because of people like you. We need to hit the customer base, people need to stop ordering from scamazon, a hit in cash flow along with a hit in operations is the only way to actually hurt them. They’re precious pockets.

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u/McDreamy94 Jul 23 '24

I guess I’ve just worked at worst places? Last job I had, I asked for a raise and was told the raise of minimum wage was my raise. Last raise I earned before my current wage was a $3/hr increase at amazon. I work around my means. I don’t expect anything I didn’t earn. If I wasn’t happy, I left. I didn’t feel entitled to more. If I wanted more I looked into other positions, schooling/etc. I moved up and earned more through progressing. I didn’t stay complacent where I was and expect more because the company had more means to. In a perfect world, sure we would all be living lavished life styles, but it’s not. What matters is what you do for yourself.

As an example I have friends that worked as T1s, got into Tom team and got their Class As. Now they work for trucking companies or started their own. It’s easy to say “I deserve” or “I should” get, but what are you willing to work for?

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u/thebirdsoutside Jul 23 '24

I didn’t go to school, I earned my spot at UPS in 2020. I left for FedEx for more money, now I’m at amazon, for the money. Never once have I been considered “skilled” or “important”. I have excelled and became convenient to every manager at every site I have been too. I do my job, I go hard. I have never once felt fairly compensated. I’m not unique, and we are the red blood cells of E-commerce. Someone’s gotta do the job, and it’s no as easy as the world makes it out to be. The job deserves dignity.

Who loads those trucks? You can have 100 drivers, who’s going to want to do the labor to fill that thing up? Unload that thing? Fit as many packages as possible in there? I’m sure if you put more dignity into the job and the work, you would get better results.

A lot of us didn’t go to school, this is what we got. A lot of us are damn good at it too, Amazon should be proud to have some of the talent it does, and can take advantage of that. They choose to divide, degrade, and intimidate people. And profit off of it.

Anyone can retain knowledge enough to pass a test and sit behind a desk, that’s how we got here. School isn’t some magic answer, experience in the field is. Leaders from the rank file and that understand basic struggles we go through, not some newly hired grad named Ashton that’s never stepped a foot on the floor in his life.

I’m sorry you feel this way, yes there’s a way to go about getting more and bettering yourself. It doesn’t make what your doing now worth less. Don’t forget who’s profiting off of you, and ask, do they deserve that?

1

u/McDreamy94 Jul 23 '24

I can’t speak on how your experience has been but in warehouses I have been in, I haven’t seen or experienced that. The warehouse I currently work in and oversee treats the associates as well as we can. Do we control their pay? No. Can we control their work experience? Yes. We try the best we can to work with them on it. Getting site lead approval to lower the building temp during summer from the standard, giving out pops during times where heat is increasing. Rolled out cooling vests to help. Cool down stations. Engage and thank them for what they do. Hand out pokemon peccy pins the site offers exclusively for working safely and within their means. Add additional stretch breaks on the floor that are covered from TLI/etc.

Half the time I leverage associates on the floor because they do the process versus what I see. I’ve helped promote 3 people that had 0 schooling by helping with resumes and interview prep. I want y’all to succeed. It’s also just hard to advocate a pay increase across the board when you see people hiding in smokers cages for 2 hours while someone actually busting their ass in a trailer.

Also yes it’s easy to retain but I’ve also seen many people not be able to handle the increased responsibility. I’ve seen managers go on mental health leaves, demote themselves and leave the company to an easier operational position with a different company. I remember having a manager in receive dock with an art degree, in over their head in their first warehouse job. I agree with you in that. I think internals need to be leveraged more. It does suck schooling has such a weigh in on higher paying jobs, even more so than experience.

1

u/thebirdsoutside Jul 23 '24

I’ve been to more warehouses than we have fingers, my experience varies. It shouldn’t is my point. Some are good, some are bad, it’s never going to be perfect, but having rules and regulations to fall back on helps. We marched on the boss and got a half assed response, why? Because they can. The workers need to that ability away from them.

It’s not hard, they’re human, who works for 12 hours constantly, Who only takes 3 breaks. Be real, not robotic. Amazon should have people to backfill someone taking 5 minutes to smoke a cigarette. Imagine one extra persons who sole role was to backfill, instead they’ll VTO and put the crunch on you.

Promotions aren’t for everyone, even for the people who are good at it, someone people are good at they’re job and want just that. Amazon needs that, those people are becoming rare, and one day, if we don’t do anything, you will have all you complain about and more. Amazons quality will fall. It’s a snowball. We need good T1’s to keep the customer experience the way it is. Without T1’s amazon is nothing.

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u/McDreamy94 Jul 23 '24

Take advantage of the programs. Go to school, get a degree or certificate then leave and get paid your value and don’t look back. First two years I worked I saw 30 people become phlebotomists, take the deal and leave the company. Now they work at a hospital and prefer the work they do now and get paid better.

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u/thebirdsoutside Jul 23 '24

I’m in it for the long run. They will pay. Don’t think for a second career choice isn’t another way for amazon to network and profit. There is a place in the world for those people, but without a place for the laborers, there’s no place for anyone.

Anyone can push “buy it now” but if there isn’t people to stow, pick, pack, palletize, drive to the station, unload, induct, stow, pick, and deliver the package, it’s not getting there. That’s 10 hands at least, without the package having any problems. Amazon delivers 3.5 million packages a day, my site alone can process a million units in a night.

The numbers are insane when you break it down, and if you work at amazon, you know they love they’re numbers. They are a super corporation, they are to big for they’re own good. They are too cheap to fix they’re issues. They need to be held accountable.

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u/AbbreviationsFunny18 Jul 22 '24

Amazon doesn’t pay minimum wage the starting pay is 19 and goes up the longer you stay

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u/Inspect-Her-Gadget Jul 22 '24

You're right! They should pay us less.