According to the NYT: Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos pledges $2.5 million for gay marriage in Washington State.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon.com, and his wife, MacKenzie, have agreed to donate $2.5 million to help pass a same-sex marriage referendum in Washington State, instantly becoming among the largest financial backers of gay marriage rights in the country.
With the gift, the couple have doubled the money available to the proponents of Referendum 74, which would legalize same-sex marriage in the state by affirming a law that passed the Legislature this year. Courts or lawmakers have declared gay marriage legal in six other states, but backers of such measures have never succeeded at the ballot box.
Come on over the jump, for why this gay man doesn't want it.
Amazon has a terrible labor record. I don't want to benefit from someone who pressures workers not to report injuries,
Three former workers at Amazon's warehouse in Campbellsville told The Seattle Times there was pressure to manage injuries so they would not have to be reported to OSHA, such as attributing workplace injuries to pre-existing conditions or treating wounds in a way that did not trigger federal reports. [...]
A former warehouse safety official said in-house medical staff were asked to treat wounds, when possible, with bandages rather than refer workers to a doctor for stitches that could trigger federal reports. And warehouse officials tried to advise doctors on how to treat injured workers.
thinks it is appropriate to hire paramedics rather than provide safe working conditions (a situation reformed only thanks to
public pressure),
In a lengthy and heavily reported article, The Call said a warehouse employee contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on June 2 to report that the heat index in the warehouse had reached 102 degrees, and that 15 workers had collapsed. The employee also said workers who were sent home because of the heat received disciplinary points.
Eight days later, the paper said, an emergency room doctor at a local hospital saw enough Amazon employees suffering from heat-related injuries to call OSHA and report “an unsafe environment.”
So many ambulances responded to medical assistance calls at the warehouse during a heat wave in May, the paper said, that the retailer paid Cetronia Ambulance Corps to have paramedics and ambulances stationed outside the warehouse during several days of excess heat over the summer. About 15 people were taken to hospitals, while 20 or 30 more were treated right there, the ambulance chief told The Call.
and
pulls a PR stunt to cover it up
Much of what those newspapers found suggests that not all warehouse employees will be able to take advantage of tuition reimbursement. There are some significant catches to Amazon's offer: employees must be directly employed by Amazon, and for at least three years.
As the newspapers detailed, however, many of the workers in the warehouses are technically employed by third-party temporary staffing agencies. And many work seasonal jobs for only a few months before moving on.
"Amazon is known as a relatively harsh place to work, so their turnover is relatively high and only a percentage of workers will even make it to three years," said Sullivan. "Their heavy use of contractors, robotics and their liberal termination policy will also restrict the number that will ever qualify for this benefit. "
My need for safe working conditions doesn't stop the minute I say "I'm gay." My solidarity with the working class doesn't stop there, either.