Amazon executives must have thought that an announcement to make grocery shopping more convenient – from the company that has been working for years to make all kinds of shopping more convenient and less expensive – would be well received. But, they didn’t count on self-serving union bosses and their typical over-the-top attacks whenever their precious union dues are put in jeopardy.
So, shortly after Amazon announced its plans for new “Amazon Go” stores – with a pilot project opening for company employees in Seattle – the Seattle Times reported that the “largest union representing grocery-store workers has come out strongly against Amazon.com’s launch of a store sans cashiers… ‘Amazon believes that America’s hardworking men and women are irrelevant to customers — they couldn’t be more wrong,’” said the international president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW).
Amazon responded with some common sense to refute the attack: “Getting rid of checkout lines is great for customers, and our associates are great for customers, too” and pointed out that “there’s plenty of stuff for people to do at an Amazon Go store. Store employees will work both the kitchen and the store, preparing food, greeting and helping customers and stocking shelves.”
Of course, that’s not enough for the UFCW bosses, so the attacks continued: “Amazon is masking its blind greed as progress…this is not about improving customer experience: it’s about destroying good jobs, with no regard to the families and communities impacted. This is not the America that hardworking families want and deserve.”
Guess we’ll find out if Amazon Go is something that families want, as soon as the stores are open to the public. Want to bet on which side they’ll be on?
Leave a Reply