Amazon’s Exploitation and Super-exploitation of Workers: Both are Exploitation

Exploitation 3 Minutes

John Clarke, former major organizer for the Ontario Coalition of Poverty, posted the following on Facebook yesterday:

“Amazon’s use of ‘seasonal’ work is a strategy to save on labour costs and deny workers their rightful benefits and security. The white badge system is a cleverly disguised mechanism of worker exploitation, masquerading under the guise of seasonality.”
He provides no comment to the article. This is unfortunate since the article expresses a typical social-reformist or social-democratic point of view.
At Amazon, there are two sets of workers, those who allegedly are seasonal and those who are permanent. As Anna Luxemburg, the writer, notes (she has personal experience at Amazon as a “seasonal” worker). Amazon uses such a label so that it does not have to pay benefits–which is what it does in the case of permanent employees:
The two-tier system of workers at Amazon is primarily separated into ‘blue badges’ or permanent employees, and ‘white badges’ or seasonal ones, the latter of which make up over 70% of the workforce. Both categories perform the same tasks, yet the benefits they receive vary drastically. Full-time permanent workers enjoy a comprehensive package that includes dental and health insurance, education trainings, paid time off (PTO), job security, and more. Part-time permanent workers receive some, but not all, of these benefits. And seasonal employees? We get none.
This is her primary complaint, it seems. She, like many other workers, implicitly uses the standard of better paid workers or workers with better benefits to point out that she and other “seasonal” workers are exploited:
Seasonal, part-time, full-time – titles that seemingly distinguish different categories of workers in Amazon’s warehouses in Montreal. However, delve deeper and you’ll find that these labels, particularly the ‘seasonal’ one, often serve as a smokescreen to mask an exploitative labour system.
Yes, Amazon’s use of the seasonal label undoubtedly is quite useful to exploit one set of workers to an een greater extent than is the case with the permanent workers (whether full-time or part-time). However, Ms. Luxemburg’s attitude is such that she neglects to consider that the permanent workers are themselves exploited. How else could she write the following? (emphases in bold are mine):

It is through organized efforts, be it in the form of labor unions, collective bargaining, or even simply fostering a sense of solidarity and understanding, that we can shed light on the exploitative practices and press for fair treatment.

Collective action can not only ensure a fairer distribution of benefits and opportunities, but also create a more equitable and sustainable work environment. Together, we can challenge the precariousness of ‘seasonal’ employment, demand appropriate job security, and push for fair pay for all.

Are not permanent workers at Amazon also exploited? If so, how can they ever be treated fairly? How can they receive fair pay? (I was going to calculate the rate of exploitation of Amazon workers, but unfortunately the annual report does not contain wage or salary data.)

Her call for unity between permanent and “seasonal” workers should, of course, be supported. However, Clarke’s silence over this typical attitude of social-reformist workers is itself a typical attitude of many among the radical left: they fail to point out that the so-called privileged workers are themselves are exploited and that there can be no such thing as “fair treatement” and “fair pay” in the context of the class power of employers.

What are radicals doing to address this issue? Not much, as far as I can see. Why is that? Is not the class point of view relevant to create a movement for the abolition of the class power of employers? What exactly is the radical left doing to counter the particularist social-democratic view characteristic of Ms. Luxemburg? Or does it not matter that the radical left question such views at every opportunity in order to develop the class point of view of such workers? So many questions–but few responses from the radical left.

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Published by The abolitionist

I come from a working-class background. My lost paid job was a teacher, substituting for a number of years before obtaining a permanent position. I obtained my doctorate in 2009. I am an unapologetic critic of capitalism and the way in which various institutions and ideologies reinforce it.

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