Amazon and SpaceX are quietly trying to demolish national labor law — American workers could lose workplace protections that they’ve had for almost a century

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Amazon and SpaceX are quietly trying to demolish national labor law | TechCrunch
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Amazon and SpaceX are quietly trying to demolish national labor law — American workers could lose workplace protections that they’ve had for almost a century::Amazon alleged in a legal filing published Friday morning that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional. SpaceX and Trader Joe's --

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Those who make peaceful labor negotiations impossible, make violent strikes inevitable.

And with SpaceX, where rocket fuel and very expensive parts are abundant, this could be more entertaining and explosive than the average starship launch.

"It'd be a shame if these wires for the gyros got crossed in this rocket"

Massive explosion as rocket spins itself to pieces a few thousand feet up

They're banking on the 6-3 conservative majority being willing to use their power.

When organized labor is crushed, what comes next is never pretty (see: 1930s Germany).

1930s US is apt and also not pretty.

Yes, although the US pulled itself back enough with some of FDR's reforms that it kicked the can down the road a few generations, whereas the Weimar Republic actually collapsed.

And here we are wondering if someone in office can do it again, or if the state is too far captured.

Captured implies that the State didn't already function as a tool of capital

The state and capital are both non-monolithic, as demonstrated by the rise of the US itself. We had a bunch of small-time plantation lords here in the states who didn't want to remain under the thumb of the English parliament (in which there was no colonial representation). Even then we could grasp the notion of equality and liberty for all, but only for specific definitions of equality and liberty (slaves, women and poor people not invited).

Everyone thinks they can control the One Ring. Everyone hopes that civil war will resort in their own ideology being established. Everyone wants their clan to benefit from the new regime. Hamilton believed voters would be aware of their own needs from government and would vote accordingly. (They do neither.) Our constitutional framers believed two parties is enough to keep each other in check. (Two parties can easily be controlled by plutocrats who subsidize candidates in both).

This is why we're in a quasi-stable not-quite feudal state. Once the Republican party can neuter elections (as per Project 2025 by the Heritage Foundation) they won't have to meddle with Democrats, and we will see the state function as a tool of a narrower subset of capital. With autocracy, tyranny and genocide will follow.

Far out. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if some billionaire encouraged unionists and paid their staff well?!?!

I don't think it's possible to become a billionaire and believe in fair labor practices.

I'm actually one of the minority on lemmy that believes in regulated capitalism. In that vein though, billionaires should be taxed out of existence. You can have tens or hundreds of millions, but once you get into the billions you really should be hitting a ceiling. You're not contributing more than you're taking from the country at that point and you're a risk to democracy with that much concentrated power.

I’m fine with regulated capitalism. I totally agree with you.

Capitalism can't stay well regulated according to Das Kapital and we're seeing a lot of examples of regulatory capture and late-stage capitalism.

Nick Hanauer seems to talk the talk. He's been on the lecture circuit for over a decade suggesting billionaires need to run their companies ethicaly or risk losing it all to class warfare. It's a message that falls on deaf ears, and I don't know if he practiced those ethics while building his initial fortune.

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As per Das Kapital the owning class will always seek to influence / capture the government to serve them and not the public. Hence capitalist society always moves towards autocracy and away from serving the public.

The problem is, getting it back is always long and bloody. Since the owning class can hire armies and enforcers to assert their will, they confront a moral hazard and resorting to violence is very easy for them. They turn to strikebusting because they have no principle other than that which increases their own personal gain.

We don't know how to get there from here. We dont know how to do a communist revolution, since civil war tends to result in a string of autocracies. But the ownership class trembles at even the notion we are thinking about it.

"Someone should probably tell the rich that workers banding together to present formal address of grievances is the alternative we worked out a long time ago to breaking down the factory owner's front door and beating him to death in front of his family? I feel like they forgot."

~U: HoldenShearer - Twitter

French remember

American workers could lose workplace protections that they’ve had for almost a century

It really can't get much worse, though. Any American worker who thinks they have workplace protections needs to wake up and take a look around the rest of the Western world. The US is pretty much worst-in-class when in comes to workplace protections.

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Amazon alleged in a legal filing published Friday morning that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional.

SpaceX and Trader Joe’s — companies that, like Amazon, have repeatedly faced labor law violations from the federal agency — have recently made similar attacks that threaten national worker protections.

If these threats against the NLRB keep moving forward, American workers could lose workplace protections that they’ve had for almost a century.

“It’s a crock of s–t,” said Seth Goldstein, the legal counsel for Trader Joe’s United and the Amazon Labor Union.

Amazon claims that the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional because administrative law judges are “insulated from presidential oversight,” thus violating the separation of powers.

But as the 2024 election looms, a Republican administration could significantly change that, making it more likely for corporations to be successful in attempts to strike down long-standing labor law.


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Is that Plankton?

Took me a minute but it's a guillotine. It's kind of clever looking because the part someone lays on goes to a vanishing point making it pop out once you see it.

It kinda does look like Plankton like giving a salute or something also tho

With the help of Starbucks, who's former CEO was supposed to be Clinton's Labor Secretary.

God, Clinton really was a piece of shit, huh

While Reagan is the instrument that set America the path to hell, Bill Clinton was the right hand who crushed any idea of a rebound by labor. One can only assume both Clintons were critical in selling the DNC to capital.

Wait till they will claim elections as unconstitutional

So many people hate the baby boomers but it was the boomers, and the previous generation, that fought for so many rights that we have. And this generation is doing everything they can to destroy what was fought for. It's fucking sad. Roe v Wade (gone). Not having minors do jobs they really shouldn't be doing (going away). Not have minors working long hours (going away). NLRB ( i don't trust that the Supreme Court will find in the favor of the people). IVF (under attack). Gerrymandering getting worse, with no real way to stop it.

By this generation (I mean the groups that came after the boomers). Did some boomers create some problems? Yes. But Damn did they get some things right.

Your timeline is off

my point is still valid. the baby boomers (and their parents) fought for a lot of stuff and won and we are watching those things slip away. Roe v Wade was decided in 1973. which group of people fought for that? (and that's just one example)

Your typical boomer was barely above age in 1973, things are not as clear cut as you say they are imo.

Which is why I’ve been saying baby boomers AND their parents. Just like today the younger generation were putting pressure on the older generation