A revolution in American industrial relations, as happened after the Great Depression, is not quite on the cards
, ho, ho, billionaires have got to go.” Protesters with slogans and placards, security hovering in the back: the gathering outside an Amazon warehouse in Richmond, California, on May 1st had all the trappings of a proper picket line. One thing was different, though—instead of massing together, participants kept a safe distance. The organisers had even chalked “Stand here” on the pavement at intervals of six feet.
A pandemic would seem an inopportune moment for a revival in organised labour. Figures due to be released on May 8th, afterwent to press, were expected to show that America’s unemployment rate exceeded 15% in April, up from 3.5% in February. Many people are grateful simply to have jobs, and do not want to rock the boat. Yet history complicates the picture.
Demands for higher pay or paid sick leave also seem to be carrying weight with better-off workers and consumers. It emerged on May 4th that Tim Bray, a senior engineer at Amazon, had quit “in dismay” over the firings of workers who had organised protests, and called on the firm to expand sick leave and hazard pay. “The warehouse workers are weak and getting weaker,” he wrote in a blog post. “Any plausible solution has to start with increasing their collective strength.
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