Amazon Japan has notified its package delivery drivers that it is lowering compensation rates from April 5 and stated it will terminate contracts if employees do not accept the changes.
For many drivers, the rate changes the company notified them of meant a pay cut, and a number of workers have since reached out to Japan’s Fair Trade Commission.
Among them is a 33‑year‑old man working as a delivery driver in the Kansai region. The job pays him about 100,000 yen ($628) per month, accounting for roughly half of his monthly earnings.
We hope everyone there denies the new terms and finds rather a deal with Amazon or a better job with another company.
Wait, I thought Japan is going to have a driver shortage as the government was moving to limit driver work hours for safety?
Then all drivers should just quit. And give Amazon a new contract that they get twice the pay or they all leave.
Works both ways.
If everyone terminated their contracts then Amazon would be forced to reconsider.
Traditionally called ‘striking’ and it’s extremely effective at this sort of corporate bullshit
If everyone stopped using Amazon maybe something even better would happen.
The world worked pretty ok before Amazon, it can do so again.
The world works way worse now with Amazon. You can’t even go into a big box store and buy the affordable option anymore.
Just-in-time inventory systems implemented by a bunch of MBAs is the reason for this.
I know I hate this
Yeah it sure sounds like Amazon doesn’t think they need delivery drivers anymore.
Probably wanna replace them with self driving cars.
How would such a large number of professionals coordinate their efforts?
You’d need some kind of organization, ideally with a leadership to coordinate actions among its major players. And you’d need lines of communication that weren’t compromised by the business interests you were negotiating against. You’d also need a state body willing to enforce the terms reached by the workforce and its employers. And you’d need a public that valued the dignity and prosperity of individual workers above the potential temporary disruption of the treat train.
Does Japan have any of that?
Does Japan have any of that?
Not really. Their unions are actually designed to be part of the company rather than external for an entire industry. Since the delivery drivers appear to be contractors they aren’t considered eligible to join the union.
Extend Embrace Extinguish but now it’s being used on the gig economy market
Now I’ve seen everything capitalism has to offer
From the very start the entire purpose of the gig economy was to evade employment legislation and thus treat workers the same as they were treated in the 19th century before they fought for and got legally enshrined worker rights in the 20th century.
everything capitalism has to offer so far…
…and then it got worse…
…and then it got worser…
…and then it got worse-est…
And then it ended.
Japan is experiencing its first sustained inflationary period in many years. So these drives are seeing prices go up when they haven’t done so for much of their careers, and now their pay is dropping too.
Maybe AI can drive the trucks…
