Bloomberg and the Washington Post are hyping Amazon’s New Factory Town initiative! Given Bezos owns WAPO, the article would appear somewhat comical. The author, Conor Sen refers to this novel idea as a different kind of community that has never been seen before… Obviously Conor didn’t take history in school or he would know the poverty and shame associated with factory towns.
In the 1800’s factory towns proliferated across Europe, most heavily in England. In the US they were called Company Towns. Many are now abandoned ghost towns. One such town in California describes the town: “The community consisted of 65 cottages, a hotel, a church, a schoolhouse, a post office, an amusement hall, a general store, a gasoline station, and a fire department. Housing consisted of small cottages, larger 2-3 bedroom homes, a larger superintendents home, and a very large plant managers home complete with fish ponds and an aviary. Housing was determined by plant seniority.”
The Amazon ploy is to build a large warehouse facility in various suburban areas where housing is inexpensive. Hire everyone at $18 per hour or $36,000 per year, and voila – poverty will suddenly be eradicated!
With reviews averaging 3 stars out of 58,000+, what do Amazon’s current US employees say about the company?
1Star: “Terrible work life balance. Managers don’t care. No sense of purpose. You are basically a robot from the second you enter the doors. Worst work experience ever.”
2Star: “Extremely repetitive and no sense of purpose working for this company”.
Other comments include: “Miserable”, “Incompetent Management”, “Toxic Work Culture”, “There is no interview, they just hire anybody”, and then the positive – “Weekly Paychecks”…!
Already a toxic environment with poor quality, large turnover, and employee dissatisfaction, Amazon would have us believe their Factory Towns will be glowing with sunshine and happy faces! Sen launches in referencing high paying jobs that are ‘safe’. In addition, retail and dining will be built close by to further reap the Town Magistrate, Bezos, in greater wealth.
Unfortunately, Sen sighs when revealing the shortfalls, – schools and healthcare remain an obstacle. These mainstays will apparently not be available, especially given that these essential industries will have been forcibly reduced even more than their 31% as of today. But that won’t matter because the working class have no intellect – apparently:
“The working class or the working classes are the group of people in a society who do not own much property, who have low social status, and who do jobs which involve using physical skills rather than intellectual skills.”
The article by Sen reads more like a Hollywood Pitch than an opinion as he highlights the possibility of apartment living close by, built by Amazon your new landlord, of course, and maybe even a shuttle in the future to take you to and from work. If you are really, really good!
And when you are bad, or really, really bad, they will have a gulag center constructed where you will be interred without pay, without a lawyer, without justice, without rights, or safety at all. Just like the DC Police when dealing with white Trump supporting protestors. Anyone speaking out in any negative capacity will be given the – boot.
After taxes your “working class respectable living wage” is about $2400 per month. In Denver, a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment starts at roughly $1650 a month. If you own a car, your parking space is extra. A flat utility charge is generally assessed running $80 – $100 per month. Food runs $450 per month. You are now left with $100 to buy clothes, pay your health insurance premium, get a haircut, go to a movie, buy gas, repair your car, insure your car, and have a beer. YES – definitely – working class labor camps.
A Nightmare of Imperialism!