Absolutely monstrous; Amazon seemed to have even less regard for the lives of their delivery drivers than they did for their ill-fated warehouse workers. Driver was literally explaining why they believed their life was in immediate danger and dispatch’s response was still “if you come back one minute early you’re out of a job.”
Driver : How about for my own personal safety, I’m going to head back. Having alarms going off next to me and nothing but locked building around me isn’t sheltering in place. That’s wanting to turn this van into a casket. Hour left of delivery time. And if you look at the radar, the worst of the storm is going to be right on top of me in 30 minutes.
Driver : It was actual sirens.
Dispatch : “If you decided to come back, that choice is yours. But I can tell you it won’t be viewed as for your own safety. The safest practice is to stay exactly where you are. If you decide to return with your packages, it will be viewed as you refusing your route, which will ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning. The sirens are just a warning.
Although, I think I saw this got amended last year. There was some confusion about the terminology for English money (who could imagine?). I’ll see if I can find it.
ETA: just based on a quick search, I think my confusion might’ve been that someone originally claimed Crachit’s wages were more like $4k/yr because of the bobs/shillings confusion. This post reflects the correction of that.
My takeaway is that, even if someone is making what’s considered a “living wage” at the time, having a family member with healthcare needs and no universal healthcare sends your entire family into poverty.
Worth noting that the union is the continuation of IDATU who began the strike in the same chain of shops refusing to handle goods from apartheid south Africa which led to the government banning imports (the first in Europe) which is a feel good story about a small group of young people doing the right thing and making a huge change. Mentioned above.
According to the indictment, laborers were charged unlawful fees for transportation, food and housing. And though they were putatively hired for agricultural work, some migrants were illegally used for lawn care, construction, and repair tasks. To prevent escapes, members of the accused crime ring unlawfully confiscated workers’ passports and documents. Conspirators also sold and traded workers amongst themselves, per the indictment.
… This investigation revealed hundreds of Georgia farm workers have been trafficked, exploited, and abused by their employers— and the GOP in Georgia has stood by in silence.
There are no words for the horrors these workers have been through – all while earning less than $.20 per harvested bucket.
Georgia’s Department of Agriculture, the Agriculture Commissioner — they had the ability to investigate and penalize these exploitative employers.
But instead, our Agriculture Commissioner, Gary Black, turned a blind eye. And never once was the Department of Agriculture called in to investigate.
It took a federal investigation to free these workers.
There is no reason for these human rights violation to go unchecked.
There is so much more that the Georgia government could’ve done to stop this unconscionable abuse.
As a farmer, one who is proud to be from Georgia, I am devastated by this news. …
