I suspect the same is true in the Amazon case(s), at least for workers most proximate to the death.
I guess I’m not understanding the outrage - besides the box rumor (or was that resolved?). Most workplaces would attempt or feign normalcy once the body was gone - especially larger work places where most staff may not even know who died. Some workplaces would genuinely be back to work the same day. Just hazarding a few guesses.
Amazon has a track record for treating warehouse / delivery employees like shit, so when a story comes along about how they’re allegedly treating people like shit, people are going to comment on how they treat people like shit. What is hard to understand about that?
This story seems pretty even-handed. Refers to unnamed employees who allege callousness (like the boxes), refers to unnamed Amazon spokesperson who says the boxes didn’t happen but won’t go on the record.
“Keep working no matter what” isn’t a great ethos or culture and I don’t see anything unusual about people objecting to it.
Matt_W
4603
We’ve had two unexpected staff deaths at my workplace over the past couple of months. (Not at work, at home during off hours, but both people who had been on the job the day before with no obvious issues.) We did curtail some meetings, had counseling available, and stopped operations for a couple of hours to reflect. Then got back to work. During the last couple of years we’ve had at least five other deaths of working or recently retired colleagues. It’s been a bit of a grim stretch.
Sharpe
4604
I think there’s a difference between a death that implicates workplace safety in some way, like a death in a worksite or directly performing work duties, versus the death of a worker away from work and away from work duties. The former is an issue of concern to workers and management in terms of safety and a work shutdown of the affected areas/duties is usually appropriate. There may be investigations ongoing and changes may need to be made to improve safety. A workplace that disregards those concerns is a shitty workplace IMO. On the other hand, if a co-worker dies in a way that doesn’t involve workplace safety, then that’s a personal matter (which can also be a personnel matter depending on the individuals affected) whether or not a work stoppage is appropriate depends on a lot of things. Simply ignoring the death is not appropriate but there are different ways to pay due respect.
The bigger issue IMO in the initial reporting on the Amazon death is it implies a disregard for the potential workplace safety issues - guy drops dead while moving product, they box off the area and keep on moving product. That seems both callous and potentially unsafe to me.
One of the positive features of the American workplace over the last 50 years is the vast reduction in the rate of serious workplace injury or death. Workplace safety, although far from perfect, has in fact improved in the US, particularly in the blue states with at least adequately funded and run OSHA departments. Some of this is due to changes in the nature of jobs/industries and to technology, but as a 25 year veteran of workers’ comp, I’ve seen a LOT of differences in workplace practices and culture and can also tell that the previous 25 years was also a sea change. When I read the old cases from the asbestos days, or the pre-New Deal days, the kinds of shit employers used to get up to boggles the mind. I am often dour and pessimistic politically and economically but workplace safety is one area where the US has in fact made strides, significant strides.
There is an argument that the gig economy is a step backward in this regard (which may relate to the Amazon issues) so we do need to keep pushing with OSHA etc. But in the big picture, US workplaces are doing way better on workplace safety than when I was born. The numbers are quite solid.
Your whole post as great, but this was especially thoughtful and succinct view. Thanks.
If he paid his employees better wages and offer decent benefits, he’d have a smaller boat.
He still spent way less compensating for his short comings than Elmo. 500M vs 44B.
Thrag
4608
Bezos is compensating in other ways too.
Looks like Michigan is repealing their “right to work” anti-union law.
