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Update: Amazon cancels plans for NYC HQ2 campus


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2 hours ago, mclumber1 said:

Amazon should have picked an area with absolutely no population and built an entire city/civilization themselves.  Maybe the desert in California or the wastelands Michigan.

 

Would have been an interesting experiment. See who they could get to move out there and how their work compares. Like Hank Scorpio.

 

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2 minutes ago, mclumber1 said:

The problem with attempting to unionize low or no skill labor is that you are easily replaceable.  I wouldn't be surprised if all of the employees get fired and replaced. 

For totally unrelated reasons, of course, but still for violations of company policy.

 

And that's the point of unionization: strength in numbers. And firing them all should cost Amazon hq2 in NYC

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8 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

For totally unrelated reasons, of course, but still for violations of company policy.

 

And that's the point of unionization: strength in numbers. And firing them all should cost Amazon hq2 in NYC 

 

Amazon Cuomo ain't giving it up doe.

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Man, as a New Yorker of utmost pragmatism (except when I'm hungry or someone is walking slow or standing on the left side of the escalator), I've had mixed feelings on this thing all along. The Fight The Power side of me of course defaults to "FUCK AMAZON AND FUCK THIS SHIT" but also, you know, we're basically a world capital and it makes sense to have these kinds of representatives of major corporations based in our city and paying our taxes and blah blah blah. And while 3 billion is a ridiculous amount of subsidies, half of that it would have been given to any other business, and I'm aware that even while it's shitty, it's not a giveaway if we're talking about credits on money we never even had in the first place.

 

But you know what? After much consideration I'm going back to fuck Amazon and this proposal. The strong arm-bullshit just offends me on a personal level, and I think they're really shooting themselves in the foot with this new "Well maybe we'll take our ball and go home" tactic. They're sorely underestimating how stubborn New Yorkers are on the whole when it comes to thinking we're being conned or someone from outside of here can strong-arm us. Hell, we shoot ourselves in the feet regularly out of a misplaced sense of pride, this would be a drop in the bucket.

 

But personal feelings aside, I just don't see this as a net gain for the city. Out of 25-30,000 supposed new jobs, so far their big PR outreach has been to guarantee twenty-five call-center jobs to NYCHA residents? Basically the total number of players in a single Knicks/Nets game? You know damn well the vast majority of these alleged $150,000/year jobs are not going to NYC residents. New York City already generated 72,000 new jobs last year organically, jobs that tend to be by and for New Yorkers, and spread throughout the city so they're not over-concentrated and creating a "company neighborhood" and pushing long-time residents out. So why should we be falling all over ourselves for a one-time influx of a fraction more? Nothing against cities that could use this kind of quick boost of employment -- take it and run, Virginia -- but frankly, we don't need it and we don't have the infrastructure or space to make it happen.

 

LIC has already been completely changed by rezoning in recent years and the condo-'splosion along the waterfront, but run-of-the-mill gentrifying and cost-of-living increases aside, still remains a neighborhood. After spending a week-plus in Seattle last year for a work thing, I gotta say, I'm terrified of the idea of LIC turning into South Lake Union or whatever Amazon has rebranded their now-proprietary neighborhood. If they really want to be in the NY metro-area, go build a proper campus in Westchester where you have space and belong, and let your employees take the MNR down for the weekends to spend their money (or reverse commute). Or Long Island, and use a piece of your windfall to help pay to finish East Side Access and basically build yourselves a convenient little rail line your employees can take over. But this waterfront nonsense in a dense, already overcrowded area that can't absorb anymore is a ridiculous vanity project and New Yorkers aren't getting nearly enough of a benefit for some bullshit that, frankly, we're doing just fine without.

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On 12/12/2018 at 8:45 AM, mclumber1 said:

The problem with attempting to unionize low or no skill labor is that you are easily replaceable.  I wouldn't be surprised if all of the employees get fired and replaced. 

 

On 12/12/2018 at 8:49 AM, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

For totally unrelated reasons, of course, but still for violations of company policy.

 

And that's the point of unionization: strength in numbers. And firing them all should cost Amazon hq2 in NYC

In Texas you can get fired for attempting to unionize. They do not need any other reason. 

 

Walmart will fire an entire store, including management, and restaff it. Even close the location temporarily if they need to. 

 

It all depends on state labor laws. 

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