this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
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Amazon made airport workers toil in 100-degree heat without shade, water — The trillion-dollar online retailer plans to appeal workplace safety citations and $14,625 in fines::The trillion-dollar online retailer plans to appeal Cal/OSHA citations and $14,625 in fines.

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[–] [email protected] 95 points 8 months ago (2 children)

That is a BS fine. That is a rounding error for an hour of operation. They willfully endanger their employees and should be fined a percentage of gross profit, no other way they will have incentive to not harm their employees.

[–] [email protected] 65 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And they're going to fight it. A literally insignificant slap on the wrist, and they're still going to the wall. Burn amazon down.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Of course they're going to fight it, courts operate on precedence...imagine if this stood how many other suits would come to the fold, even at 14k a piece it would show someone can at least fight against megacorps.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

They should be fucking shut down. Fuck fines.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

Well the fine system should augment the rest of the measures. It's not as if you can keep doing what you are fined for. The punishment for repeat offence should and does result in escalation of punishment.

The issue seems to be two fold:

  • The fine system did not keep up with reality and the insane income inequality. If fines are setup to hurt equally, like a percentage of global revenue, or of total assets, you can bet your ass they will be effective at stopping undesired behavior.
  • The lack of shame, it used to be that getting a fine would actually serve as a signal people understood, but the corporate shield from personal responsibility has gone so far that decision makers just do not care about potential consequences.
[–] [email protected] 46 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Fines should be paid directly to the workers that had to work under these conditions. They should also be paid in multiples of yearly salary, it's a trillion dollar company. The company pays more as a consequence and those that suffered get compensation. Maybe also a percentage should go to the agency (not Amazon related) overseeing this kind of thing like the NLRB.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It should also penalize the decision makers who hide behind the facade of a faceless corporation to allow them to do terrible things without consequences

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

To be fair, it's the corporation that lets them do it. They still have their jobs and salaries after all.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

“I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, 'cause you guys paid for all this. So seriously, for every Amazon customer out there, and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart, very much. It's very appreciated.”

~ Jeff Bezos, July 2021, as he departs for space tourism

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

It's not the amount, it's admitting they did this, which I would guess opens them up to being sued by those affected.