#DearJeffBezos: We request @Amazon donate the money it took from us to struggling WaPo employees
The amount Amazon held back from us when it s***canned us from Amazon Associates probably is not Yuge, but these WaPo workers need all the help they can get.
When Amazon s***canned us from the Amazon Associates program, it made a point to tell us it was holding back and would not pay us any money we had accumulated as referral fees:
“… Amazon will not pay you any outstanding advertising fees related to your account ….”
I don’t know how much Amazon took from us, because by the time I received Amazon’s notice that we were terminated, the data was wiped clean as to unpaid earnings when I logged in. It’s probably not a Yuge amount, certainly not in comparison to Amazon’s capitalization and Jeff Bezo’s net worth.
But that amount, whatever it was, may be important to struggling employees in Jeff Bezo’s other business, The Washington Post:
The Daily Mail reports:
More than 400 employees of The Washington Post have signed on to a public letter to owner Jeff Bezos asking him to remedy working conditions at the newspaper, after more than a year of unsuccessful negotiation with upper management.
‘All we are asking for is fairness for each and every employee who contributed to this company’s success: fair wages; fair benefits for retirement, family leave and health care; and a fair amount of job security,’ the petition read.
‘More than 400 of our colleagues have signed this petition, and they’re just asking you to listen,’ Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah said in the video that accompanied the written petition.
The petition was shared on Twitter by the Post Guild on Thursday, which was one day after Bezos tweeted about Thursday being the one year anniversary of him asking his social media following for ideas for philanthropy.
Bezos, who is also the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon, could not immediately be reached for comment on the petition.
This video by union employees is *heartbreaking*:
THE PETITION
Dear Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post:
We, the undersigned, have been extremely grateful that you stepped in to purchase the Post at a time when the traditional media model was collapsing, and we have given our all to take advantage of the long runway you promised. In the past year alone, the Post has doubled the number of digital subscriptions and increased its online traffic by more than half; its advertising team has met or exceeded all its targets.
All we are asking for is fairness for each and every employee who contributed to this company’s success: fair wages; fair benefits for retirement, family leave and health care; and a fair amount of job security.
• Offering $10 a week in pay increases – or about 0.6 percent of the median salary and less than half the current rate of inflation – is unfair and even shocking from someone who believes democracy dies in darkness.
• Refusing to improve retirement benefits is unfair, particularly since you froze the traditional pension. The current retirement plans, including a 1 percent match on our 401(k), suggest that you place little value in your employees’ future financial security.
• Pushing for the right to indiscriminately lay off anyone is unfair – and a recipe for future discrimination against older employees and minorities.
• Further cutting severance for people who face layoffs or whose job has been outsourced is unfair, particularly since management has already won the right to drastically cut severance for people who are let go for cause.
• Demanding that laid-off employees waive their legal rights to receive severance payments is an extreme demand and an ominous one – particularly in light of the Post’s mixed record on fair treatment for women, racial minorities and older employees.
The Post is not just any business venture. But even if it were – this would not be the way to show that you value your employees.
Please show the world that you not only can lead the way in creating wealth, but that you also know how to share it with the people who helped you create it.
Trump has weighed in on the poor treatment of WaPo employees:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1008340100877570048
I take no position on whether WaPo employees should strike.
But there is a certain irony that Mr. Progressive Himself underpays WaPo union workers.
All I ask at this point is that Amazon donate to the struggling WaPo employees the money Amazon took from us when it s***canned us.
It’s the least we can do. It’s also the most we can do.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“The Post is not just any business venture.”
.
ROFL! Bezos can eliminate his ‘journalists’ salaries and just let them live off what the DNC is paying them.
The struggle is real, and it’s a generous offer, Professor, but methinks the apparatchiks at SPLC have already palmed the proceeds.
Its help is not cheap. It is generally passed around that a hit job by the SPLC cost about $1M.
All I ask at this point is that Amazon donate to the struggling WaPo employees the money Amazon took from us when it s***canned us.
It’s the least we can do. It’s also the most we can do.
==========================================================
Totally agree, Prof. Some accounting is in order.
Hey wapoop fictionists, viva la resistance!
Oh wait…
It is difficult to avoid feeling an overwhelming cascade of schadenfreude for these crybabies.
They are termites who have been collectively eating away at the foundations of the social and moral capital of our country for over 50 years.
My thoughts exactly….no sympathy for these parasites.
Indiscriminate layoffs are somehow discriminatory? Don’t make me laugh.
It is difficult to avoid feeling an overwhelming cascade of schadenfreude for these crybabies.
They are termites who have been collectively eating away at the foundations of the social and moral capital of our country for over 50 years.
If the employees don’t feel they’re being paid appropriately, there should be mass resignations as they move on to better paying jobs. Since that’s not happening, it seems they, like everyone else in this country, value their own labor at a higher price than it’s actually worth to the company.
As an ex-journalist who has also written for that newspaper, I agree. No sympathy for these clowns.
So … hey write their associates program “agreement” so when they decide to exit, they pocket anything outstanding they owe.
Who signs an agreement like that?
Who writes an agreement like that?
Who thinks they can get away with an agreement like that?
Oh right, “agreement.” They write it that way because they can. Monopolists gonna monolopy. And, they lobby multiple levels of govt for regulations that favor their particular business model. Oligarchs gonna oligarch, I suppose.
What do you call it when everything is within the state that spins advantages to the people who play along. If only there were a name for that.
Is there a chance some WaPo employees can actually starve to death? A boy can dream.
*****
Twitter loses in court. CA judge allows deleted Twitter account holder to sue.
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=375676
No more bribes for the FBI/DOJ as detailed in the OGI report.
It’s his blog. The prestige of the organization reflected not only by the quality of the work they do but the conditions they work under and the respect he affords them is directly reflected back on him.
It’s in his interest for people to respect the staff of his paper. He didn’t buy the N.Y.Times so he needs to do some polishing and touting of his own.
I spend a great deal of money on supplies for maintenance and upgrades. Products I was purchasing increasing came from Amazon. Last fall, I started having a great deal of trouble with the post office not delivering shipments on time, or at all.
First I tried to get USPS to fix the problem, but they would not. Then I explained the problem to Amazon, and they assured me they would use a different carrier.
They did not. It appears that Amazon has developed some serious competency issues. If those are widespread, Amazon may be on the verge of losing their dominate position.
And then they cheated Legal Insurrection, all because they were dumb enough to get in bed with SPLC.
All the orders have gone to other vendors, and at this time of the year that has exceeded $4000 so far.
It is common for young successful companies to become arrogant, that problem is generally addressed by market forces. As a customer, I really do not care about any company’s political opinions. All I care about are good prices,and efficient service. That is all any business should care about.
Do WAPo and Amazon need Fraud Audits??????????
Are yous telling me The Great Jeff Bezos mistreats his workers?
Someone should tell Bernie Sanders. And Barack Obama. And maybe Hilliary Clinton.
Heck, someone should tell the Washington Post.
Or even the New York Times.
Just one more example of how Leftists are full of crap. They tell everyone what they should do, but don’t do it themselves! Liberalism is a mental illness!
“I don’t know how much Amazon took from us, because by the time I received Amazon’s notice that we were terminated, the data was wiped clean as to unpaid earnings when I logged in.”
This seems to be a basic problem with many sorts of electronic services: the provider of the service knows what you’ve used (or earned) but you, the customer, often have no way to verify the vendor’s accounting.
Bezos is one of the richest people in the world and a dedicated leftist. However, as large as Amazon is, the average salary in the company is $28,000 / year. Pickers in their warehouses are treated like slaves and can not even take time for a pee break, having to wear Depends or use the “truckers friend” (which could lead to sexual Trump’s company treating people like this, can you imagine the outrage?