You're eulogising a system that doesn't deserve eulogies.
Workers pass out in warehouses and aren't allowed toilet breaks. And many are gig-economy contract hires who have zero chance of ever seeing a 401k or any other permanent employee benefits.
> You're eulogising a system that doesn't deserve eulogies.
Nobody is eulogizing anything. The system isn't dead, it's alive and well. What I, personally, am doing is simply appealing to nuance.
> Workers pass out in warehouses and aren't allowed toilet breaks
Yes, this is bad. Nobody is arguing that it's all sunshines and daisies for Amazon Warehouse workers. The argument is that the reality is more complicated because they are well compensated relative to their similarly-skilled counterparts elsewhere. And it's not like they're not allowed toilet breaks as a rule, the reality is that Amazon's warehouse policies are decentralized and in one documented situation, there was malpractice. This is undeniably bad and should be fixed, and one would be a fool to argue otherwise. Notwithstanding (objectively bad) isolated incidents like this, in the aggregate, it is arguably a good thing that 1.3 million unskilled people are gainfully employed with competitive benefits, and all in service of providing convenient supply chains to the world especially in times of widespread pandemic and distress.
> And many are gig-economy contract hires who have zero chance of ever seeing a 401k or any other permanent employee benefits.
At least as it relates to the warehouse workers in the United States, this is factually untrue.
Honest question that will sound snarky: What's the point of (relatively) generous pay and benefits if workers burn out / get injured and fired in a short amount of time?
First of all, I'm not sure it's obvious that burn out / injury is the norm instead of the exception — though happy to shown otherwise if you have any links. We hear about the worst cases because that's what's reported on, but we never hear about the boring average Joe warehouse worker that just clocks in, does their work, clocks out, and then goes about their life.
The hours are predictable, and there's no oncall rotation so you can reasonably plan your life around the difficult working hours, and you never have to worry about not affording health care because Amazon health insurance is quite generous.
Workers pass out in warehouses and aren't allowed toilet breaks. And many are gig-economy contract hires who have zero chance of ever seeing a 401k or any other permanent employee benefits.