I don't shop Amazon.com -- Not just about Coulter.
Sat Mar 17, 2007 at 06:41:09 PM PDT
I've made no bones here or anywhere about the fact that I'm an old fashioned trade union Democrat, and proud of it. I've never crossed a picket line, and I fully intend to go to my grave saying that. It's getting harder to buy Union. The Republicans have successfully decimated organized labor in this country. But I don't have to support notoriously anti-union Amazon.com with my hard earned dollars.
Amazon.com has earned its "red" rating on Labor and Human Rights from Buy Blue, awarded to companies:
if they exhibit mostly regressive practices. The labor & human rights rating covers a number of subjects including but not limited to: sweatshops, unions & union busting, NLRB complaints and actions, OSHA violations, fair trade, outsourcing, benefit packages, and living wages.
The company's aggressive union busting policies came to light in 2000, through a whistle-blower, and have been soft pedaled, but not remedied, since. It's the usual management stranglehold arsenal of mandatory employee indoctrination sessions, union organizer and supporter firings on other pretexts, denial of organizer access, and blatant worker intimidation. The approach was so agregious that they became a poster child of unfair labor practices not only by the unions, but gained them public ridicule from comedians like Mike Daisey, himself a former Amazon employee, and got them cited even by their fellow "bad guys" in the anti-union business world as an example Lessons to Avoid!
And it's not just keeping the unions out. It's the horrendous working environment they maintain which is why the unions need to be there in the first place. Former Amazon workers like Daisey relate experiences of "slavishly long hours" and unhealthy conditions.
Amazon.com doesn't have to resort to these practices to turn a dollar. Powell's Books employs union labors, contributes to Democratic candidates, is involved in community affairs, and does a booming business online and in its brick and mortar stores. It even treats its affiliates (websites earning commission on sales referrals) better than Amazon, paying them a higher commission, and not excluding some classes of products.
Most Democratic candidates are still scrupulous about purchasing campaign materials from union shops. I think it's time we're just as scrupulous about where we buy our books, and whose links are on our websites.
Postscript: On this basis, and because of other issues including those relating to Amazon's financial support of Ann Coulter's website, I've e-mailed kos asking him to consider switching to another affiliate program, and suggested Powell's as an option. If he ignores or rejects my recommendation, he won't lose one iota of my respect, and I will continue to participate here.
Update (Full Disclosure): It has become obvious from some of the comments that my reference to being a trade union Democratic and a "unionist" may have been misunderstood. While I was a proud member at different times of what was then the Retail Clerks' Union and the Hotel and Restaurant Workers' Union, I have spent most of my adult life as an inner-city missionary priest. Some of that time has been spent working with the United Farmworkers and other unions, but I am not now either a union member or official. I am sorry if I left that impression, and will be careful to be more clear in future.
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