Amazon's Showdown in France Tests Its Ability to Sidestep Labor - The New York Times

Today as Panzer was cleaning out the Panzermobile, he found a post wadded up under the passenger seat. Flattening it out, our fastidious kitty discovered it was a post from The New York Times site about Amazon's labor problems in France.

I have my priorities.

The post by Liz Alderman and Adam Satariano documents problems with the French warehouse workers labor union. The union is not happy with Amazon's response to workers' health protection in the company's French fulfillment centers. The union took Amazon to court and won a court order that Amazon must stop delivering 'nonessential' items during the pandemic. In response Amazon closed their French fulfillment centers. Amazon is shipping orders from warehouses in other countries to French customers. There are more issues in the case and Amazon has appealed to the French Supreme Court.

Panzer says, "Umm ... Who decides what is nonessential? What's essential to the neighbor's dog wouldn't be essential to me. So, who decides? Me or the dog?"

This is a humongous post. Bring a thermos of tea and six muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon and French Unions

Amazon warehouse envoys rally to tweet upbeat comments about working conditions - The Seattle Times

Panzer took an unexpected trip into the Catosphere today. He was shaken from his afternoon nap by strange sounds coming from the Catosphere. Hopping into the Panzermobile and following all the noise took our sleepy kitty to The Seattle Times newspaper site. After a little digging around in the posts our kitty reporter found one about Amazon.

According to Matt Day, Amazon now has more than a dozen "Amazon FC Ambassadors" tweeting on Twitter about how great the work environment in the warehouses is. The "FC" in their title stands for "Fulfillment Center" which is Amazon's name for its warehouses. The post says the Ambassadors don't have anything but praise for Amazon warehouse working conditions and their benefits. Some links are included to other posts including about working conditions, individual FC Ambassadors and the FC Ambassador program.

Who likes everything about their job?

Panzer says, "Hmm ... Who are these warehouse workers that they have time to be tweeting online?"

Note: This is a long post. Bring a cup and a half of tea and two muffins for today's reading selection.

To read the post tootle over to Amazon warehouse workers

Amazon delivery workers sue, say they should be full employees - MarketWatch

Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere looking for interesting news today. Our big kitty boy made a stop at the MarketWatch site. There he found a post about a new lawsuit against Amazon.

According to a post by Greg Bensinger, Amazon's new one-hour delivery service has come under fire. The service is made up of on-demand contract workers who work when a delivery needs to be made. Those workers have filed a lawsuit against Amazon about their employment status. They want the same benefits regular employees receive. The post includes a link to a longer Wall Street Journal post on the same subject.

I'm confused about this one.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. Not sure what will happen with this one."

Note: This post needs only a cup of tea ... however, if you follow their link to the WSJ post, bring a muffin too.

To read the post, tootle over to Amazon delivery workers