Many of the costs created when a company chooses to fully exercise its power over employees are borne by third parties. Destroying work-life balance harms more than just the one doing the work. It harms those who share the life. The fiancée who drove daily to an Amazon campus at 10 p.m. and begged his partner to come home. The family of the woman whose child was stillborn.
By imposing these costs on third parties, Amazon creates (and profits from) a market failure, in much the same way as a factory dumping toxic chemicals into a nearby river. Yet there is today precious little preventing other companies from following in Bezos’ path. In Amazon’s conduct, one can witness the full extent of the power some employers have at their disposal, and what it looks like when that power is used. Laws like the minimum wage protect not only employees themselves, but also their families, friends, and local communities. full: http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/17/the-grim-externalities-of-amazon-com/ _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
