Amazon

Introduction

Amazon has been the subject of media scrutiny concerning its labor practices, with employee relations being a major issue. The company has taken steps to improve its practices in this area, such as raising the minimum wage and investing in training programs. While many positive changes have been made, Amazon continues to battle issues surrounding overtime pay, job security and workplace safety. Employee surveys performed by third party organizations have identified areas where Amazon can continue to focus its efforts to ensure that their employees feel valued and supported. As an ecommerce giant that employs millions of people around the world, it is essential for Amazon to constantly monitor and adjust their policies in order to provide a safe and productive working environment for their employees. This paper will look at labor-employee relations at Amazon by discussing the companys Mechanical Turk and its stance on Unions among other issues.

The Mechanical Turk

Amazon's Mechanical Turk is an online crowdsourcing platform that enables companies to outsource a variety of tasks and receive results in a timely manner (Cunningham-Parmeter, 2016). Employing a global workforce, Amazon's Mechanical Turk provides many potential benefits including cost-efficiency, access to experts, and quick turnarounds. However, the platform is also associated with certain drawbacks such as the lack of standards for quality control and worker safety, as well as legitimacy. Additionally, by relying on large numbers of remote workers to accomplish goals, the use of Amazon's Mechanical Turk can raise concerns about labor exploitation in certain circumstances (Chesta, 2021). As a result, it is important for employers to carefully consider the implications of outsourcing work on the labor-employee relationship when using Amazon's Mechanical Turk.

Amazon's Mechanical Turk has been an increasingly prominent feature of the tech giant's labor relations operations since its launch in 2005. This innovative platform allows employers to divide tedious tasks into components, allowing them to be completed by workers online on a piece-by-piece basis (Fort et al., 2011). This system has been touted as a way to get more tasks completed faster while reducing manual labor and eliminating often difficult employee acquisition processes.

Critics of Amazon's approach argue that it violates ethical standards in the way it incentivizes workers, who are often paid a small fee per task despite doing work comparable to traditional employees; one study determined that the vast majority of those participating earn less than minimum wage (Aloisi, 2015; Irani, 2015). Given this and other criticism, Amazon must address ethical issues surrounding the use of Mechanical Turk in order to maintain the trust and respect of their workforce (Delfanti, 2021).

Ultimately, Amazon's Mechanical Turk stands at odds with the traditional employer-employee relationship due to its lack of job security, absence of certain labor rights, and limited access to career development (Logan, 2021). Recruiting offsite workers as independent contractors means that employers do not have to adhere to standard employment laws and can simply choose whichever established procedure simplifies their business process. Consequently, this low-cost model adversely impacts the quality of employment opportunities for those seeking contract work by bypassing union regulations, diminishing the availability of jobs from higher wages and benefits, and erasing labor protections such as health insurance, safety requirements, overtime pay and minimum wage (Prince, 2022). The emergence of a platform such as Mechanical Turk has likely facilitated exploitation among vulnerable sectors of society due its unconstrained nature. As such, it represents a potentially regressive form of labor management which raises important questions about the legal standards governing modern working environment.

Amazons Stance on Unions

Amazon, the world's largest online marketplace, is renowned for its stringent stance on unions (Fuchs et al., 2022). Despite numerous calls from labor groups to recognize their employees right to form a union, Amazon has continuously blocked attempts at unionization from its warehouse workers and other affected staff. Its approach is largely predicated on the company's proclaimed belief that its workers should be its customers main focus, with terms and conditions of employment taking second seat. While it may appear Amazon is disregarding legal employee rights to collective bargaining, in reality self-organization appears to be favored...…making decisions on union involvement at the company (Bernstein & Hof, 2000).

HRM

Understanding the relationship between labor and employees is essential for organizations to effectively manage their workforce, and unions play an important role in this. They are responsible for ensuring employees maintain healthy working conditions and receive fair wages for their work. Furthermore, unions can help organizations develop structured strategies to promote collaboration between employees and management, allowing for cooperation on both sides (Aloisi, 2015). Through careful consideration of the union-employee relationship, human resources departments can address any issues or disputes quickly and efficiently, ensuring optimal performance from all parties. This demonstrates the importance of a strong union presence within organizations; they provide an invaluable source of support to both labor and management alike.

All in all, unions have become increasingly important for employees across the globe, especially those who find themselves in a precarious situation. Amazon has been criticized for its labor policies and practices, leading to a heightened interest in unions from its employees (Chest, 2021). To ensure fair treatment of both labor and employees, Amazon has begun to recognize the importance of unions as they can help create an environment that allows everyone involved to benefit from strong relationships between labor and employers. However, to date, Amazon has been reluctant to work with unions in the US.

Conclusion

Unions can bring tangible benefits such as better wages, improved working conditions, safe and healthy workplaces, job security, and collective bargaining rights. Furthermore, unions provide workers with access to benefits such as healthcare and pensions that many would otherwise lack. It is clear that the relationship between labor and employers is key to ensuring the continued success of businesses like Amazon while also protecting workers' rights. Wider trends in the US economy where traditionally protected labor laws may struggle to effectively account for the gig economy or other situations where workers are not unified under one business model or ownership could continue to be an issue, though. It is yet to be seen how unions will respond to companies like Amazon…