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amazon can afford to treat its workers with dignity
(thelemmy.club)
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this post was submitted on 05 May 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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Maybe they could 50 years ago but they decided then that Walmart was the way to go.
Now all most of them can afford is Walmart
And nothing materially changed between then and now. It's just as possible now as it was then. They just want you to think it isn't.
I'd hate to break it to you, but that just isn't true. Manufacturing capabilities have left the continent. People no longer have the relevant expertise to pass on through apprenticeships. We'd basically be starting from scratch, and with corporate hegemony built on cheap overseas labor to compete with.
That doesn't mean it wouldn't be worth doing, but let's not fool ourselves about the uphill battle that it would be, or the very real possibility that people would just keep using the cheap convenient corporations instead of supporting local fabs
You're absolutely right. The word I chose was poor. What I meant was the underlying rules of the material world hasn't changed. Atoms still act the same way, and all that. It was an exceptionally weird way to make an even weirder point, but yeah.
Alright well when you figure out the precise alloy of steel to optimize a spring for required specs, and the exact forging, quenching, and tempering processes and temperatures to use, as well as the specs for the equipment to extrude the wire and twist it into the right shape with enough precision to be commercially replicable, then we can all use your springs in all the things that we build. Now we just need someone else to build literally every other part.
The thing about a lot of modern technology, is that it's made with other technology, which in turn requires still more technology. So when manufacturing capabilities disappear from a continent, it's not so simple to just rebuild them. You need to rebuild the stuff that's required to build them first.
And you also need technical knowledge, niche skill sets and tooling, and sources of often highly specific materials.
This isn't meant to sound discouraging, but it's best to understand the scale of the task from the outset.
Great, you've outlined the work that's needed. To quote a fave movie of mine: "'It's not possible'. 'No, it's necessary'."
Yeah, you're right. We should start with the easy wins, like making soaps, baked goods, hand tools, etc.
We can work our way up to more complex fabs and maybe some day we can have a worker's collective to manufacture semiconductors, but we shouldn't let the immensity of the task get in the way of starting on the simpler aspects.
I'm glad to read those words from you. My wife and I are trying to envision and do our part as well. Small steps, humble as they may be, are always the start to anything great that's ever been done, no? :)
I suppose so. I've recently been toying with 3D printing basic mechanical components, saving project files with various chains, sockets, joints, clamps, gears, etc., and learning how to adapt and remix objects on OrcaSlicer to design new things.
It isn't much, and I don't intend to monetize it, but for instance I'll never need to buy a C-clamp again cause I can print them with about 10 grams of polyethylene. Now I just need to learn how to extrude my own filament and start collecting water bottles...
If society goes down, it'll give me something to barter with. "Need something printed? What a coincidence, because I happen to need some oats."
Okay
Sorry, rereading what I wrote, it seems unnecessarily harsh.
You're right though, there are plenty of things that cottage industries absolutely can and should reclaim. I guess I was just thinking about highly technical fabs, like computer chips and medical equipment.
Overall though, I'm very much in support of the idea of cottage industries in general.
The rules absolutely have changed. Distribution networks and data transfer are completely different today than back then.
Your parents voted for convenience every day at the register and they got what they paid for.
And they'll be dead soon.
Probably. Their decisions with healthcare weren't much better.
No we didn't. Wal-Mart showed up and undercut competition for years to force everyone else out of business, and then jacked up their prices, buy up the property where the competition was at and jack up the rent so they can't come back.
That's what they do now (and have done for the last 3 decades but Walmart is a lot older than that and you don't get to be in that position by accident.
They were sourcing cheap Chinese goods in the early 80s.