City Links New Haveners To New Amazon Jobs

Mayor Toni Harp said she'd like to see as many New Haven people as possible get those jobs. So her administration has arranged with Amazon to hold a job fair at City Hall all day on July 30.

Expect this is you do work at Amazon.

A sweatshop firing on all cylinders': what it's like to work at Amazon at Christmas

Our friends and co-workers walk past us, their feet dragging like zombies after having worked the last 10 hours, many for six days in a row. A few folks who learned their lesson last year refuse extra-time – they say that one five-hour shift is hard enough, doing two is unbearable.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/19/how-your-holiday-shopping-drives-us-amazon-workers-to-exhaustion

Amazon faces boycott ahead of holidays as public discontent grows

Steven Shamrock, 51, had been considering boycotting Amazon for a while. First when he learned how Amazon workers were treated. Jeff Bezos might be one of the richest men in the world, but Amazon's median salary is a paltry $28,446 a year. The second time Shamrock considered boycotting Amazon was when he read about the company's dominance in web services. Amazon Web Services controls around 45% of the world's cloud-computing capacity and provides the web services for customers ranging from Netflix to the CIA to the UK's Ministry of Justice.The last straw came in May of this year when he read that Amazon was banning customers who made too many returns.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/17/amazon-boycott-customers-holiday-shopping


If you get a Job there.Hope you do not have to go to the bathroom.

Amazon Working Conditions: Urinating in Trash Cans, Shamed to Work Injured, List of Employee Complaints

Amazon warehouse workers skip bathroom breaks to keep their jobs, says report

55 percent of workers report having suffered depression since working at Amazon

https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17243026/amazon-warehouse-jobs-worker-conditions-bathroom-breaks

I have spoken with many people who work in other CT Amazon facilities and most of them speak positively about their work. Sure some complain about things, but who doesn't about their work. I am certain that none of them are forced to work there and are free to get a job somewhere else if they wanted to.

It seems, that some people think that there should not be physically challenging jobs anymore. Automation will ultimately solve that concern. in the meantime, there will be 1800 new jobs near New Haven that don't exist today. If someone does not want that kind of a job, I assume they will not take it and Amazon will be left with no employees. They will solve that problem too, its what they do.

posted by: nhrealist on July 2, 2019 4:47pm
I have spoken with many people who work in other CT Amazon facilities and most of them speak positively about their work. Sure some complain about things, but who doesn't about their work. I am certain that none of them are forced to work there and are free to get a job somewhere else if they wanted to.

How would you like to have a job where you have to Urinating in Trash Cans, Shamed to Work Injured?

Please don't let negative posters drag you into the idea that Amazon is awful. Go to Glassdoor or any similar site. The vast majority of Amazon employees love it there. When you have 647,500 employees, there are bound to be a few that don't like it. This is often more of a statement about that employee than the company as a whole.

Some people would rather that the world stood still and no one be allowed to advance. Thankfully, those people are significantly outnumbered and in our society, we are able to leave them behind.

Good luck to New Haveners trying to make the best for themselves and their families.

Amazon paid ZERO taxes last year on its billions in profits.
When my annual subscription expires, I am NOT renewing.
Where we spend our money is a political choice.

thank you Wooster Squared! And of course, besides all of the taxes that Amazon pays, they create jobs and give people more money to spend which generates more taxes. The multiplying effect is huge

posted by: LookOut on July 2, 2019 11:52pm

Please don't let negative posters drag you into the idea that Amazon is awful.

Negative?It is fact.As far as Glassdoor.Those are the workers who do not work in the warehouses.Read Journalist James Bloodworth, author of Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low Wage Britain, worked for a month at an Amazon "fulfillment center" in England. He recounted that the warehouse he worked in was "what I imagine the atmosphere of a low security prison would feel like. … We had to be drug and alcohol tested before we started work. … We had to pass in and out of giant airport-style security gates every time we even went to the toilet." The book describes having to get a product from the shelves onto delivery bins in twelve seconds, repeatedly over a ten-hour day, or be fired. Workers called ambulances 115 times in three years.In 2018, The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health named Amazon number one on its list of "dirty dozen" employers. Seven workers have been killed at U.S. Amazon warehouses since 2013.
you need to read about the sweat shop conditions in the warehouses .

My bad.You know Amazon owns wholefoods.Look at what there workers have to go throw.

Whole Foods cuts workers' hours after Amazon introduces minimum wage

But since the wage increase, Whole Food employees have told the Guardian that they have experienced widespread cuts that have reduced schedule shifts across many stores, often negating wage gains for employees."My hours went from 30 to 20 a week," said one Whole Foods employee in Illinois.Workers interviewed for this story were reluctant to speak on the record for fear of retaliation.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/06/whole-foods-amazon-cuts-minimum-wage-workers-hours-changes

posted by: Wooster Squared on July 3, 2019 10:12am

Amazon certainly pays taxes, and lot of them. They pay property taxes on the real estate they own

But in New York.They was going to push the poor and working poor out.

As Amazon moves in, so does rampant gentrification

McMichael believes tenant laws are not strictly enforced throughout the city. One of the most common problems his organization sees in gentrified areas is landlords forcing lower paying tenants out to attract those who will be willing to pay more."What we find is that the people at the low end of the totem pole also get just terrible, despicable landlords that violate all sorts of housing laws," he said. "These families typically get pushed to the outer fringes, like places that aren't the most desirable, places where there may be more poverty and higher instances of crime. They get pushed there until, of course, those places gentrify too."

http://pavementpieces.com/as-amazon-moves-in-new-yorks-homeless-forced-to-move-on/

Amazon deal will disrupt plans for affordable housing on Long Island City sites

https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2018/11/15/amazon-deal-will-disrupt-plans-for-affordable-housing-on-long-island-city-sites-700784

Wooster Squared and Look out.How much is this going to cost the taxpayer here in Ct.?, In New York was going Amazon was going to receive $1.2 billion in refundable tax credits through New York State's Excelsior Jobs Program if the company created 25,000 net new jobs in New York State by the end of June 2028. New York State had also promised a $505 million capital grant to reimburse Amazon for the costs associated with building its office space.

@ WoosterSquared: Thanks for asking.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-amazon-netflix-its-a-disgrace-companies-do-not-pay-taxes/

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/05/bernie-sanders-introduces-the-bezos-act-slamming-amazon-low-wages.html

"tech giants such as Amazon and Netflix, should have paid a collective $16.4 billion in federal income taxes based on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's 21 percent corporate tax rate, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Instead, these corporations received a net tax rebate of $4.3 billion". https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2018-taxes-some-of-americas-biggest-companies-paid-little-to-no-federal-income-tax-last-year/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/business/economy/corporate-tax-report.html

I have never met someone who voluntarily pays "what they should" pay in federal taxes. I have never met anyone who pays more than they are required by law to pay. If people don't like the rules then elect a government that will change the rules but don't blame companies for following the rules. None of us, individually, would behave any differently. Now if you would like to complain about Amazon's level of charitable donations, given how generous the tax code is to them, that is fair game in my mind.

Youre right, NYC sure showed Amazon. Of course now nobody will get those jobs, the area will not get better, and part of the $18B Amazon pays its employees each year will not find its way to NYC. To those against gentrification, the term can be used too widely. If it is intended to improve conditions in areas that are becoming decrepit, it should be welcomed, as long as it includes those who call those areas home. To refuse all new building, new jobs, and improvements in structures that are rapidly falling apart, is to accept your plight in life and then wonder why things aren't getting better for you.

I was just at the The Ives Branch of the New Haven Free Public Library and I found out they will be also hosting an Amazon Job Fair on the following days from 10:30 am -7:30 pm on Wed July 10, Mon. July 15 and Tues July 23. It is incredible to see this great institution of learning and culture being an active partner in devoting resources to helping citizens of New Haven obtain gainful employment.

posted by: missthenighthawks on July 3, 2019 3:46pm
Youre right, NYC sure showed Amazon. Of course now nobody will get those jobs, the area will not get better, and part of the $18B Amazon pays its employees each year will not find its way to NYC.


NYC did not tell Amazon that they were no longer welcome. It was Amazon that decided to back out.Read about how in Seattle, Amazon is not a good corporate citizen. The big paying jobs you talk about go to mostly white, mostly male workers who make the 6 figures.They treat low level employees like slaves, pay them poorly, destroy every other retailer.

To those against gentrification, the term can be used too widely. If it is intended to improve conditions in areas that are becoming decrepit, it should be welcomed, as long as it includes those who call those areas home.

That is the main problem of gentrification.It does push out those who call those areas home.In fact that is what Amazon was going to do in New York City.

Amazon's move will gentrify neighborhoods. At what social cost?

Amazon's move to Long Island City, in New York, will almost certainly drive out poorer residents. Is gentrification ever ethical?

To make ethical decisions, we must consider the people who suffer the consequences of rapidly rising costs in the area they call home as part of the ethical equation.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90274295/is-gentrification-ever-ethical

My god mother lost her apartment she had for over 30 years to the Barclay Center.They even made a movie about it call Battle for Brooklyn.

https://youtu.be/MtrdMlGVHzA



My bad.Did you also know that Amazon want a Helipad to be Funded by Taxpayers in New York.

Amazon's New York Helipad Will Be Funded by... Taxpayers
Despite the fact that it's pocket change for the company

https://www.gq.com/story/amazon-helipad-tax-payers

That Helipad alone would push people out.

The jobs in Queens were not warehouse jobs paying close to minimum wage. They were 25,000 jobs paying an average of $150,000. The payroll taxes alone would pay back the incentives. Amazon committed to giving preference and training to local residents in their hiring.
The area around where Amazon was going to build their offices is still gentrifying. The average rents have gone up 5% each year over the last 3 years (even before Amazon planned to move there and including this year after Amazon pulled out). The push is primarily employers moving out of Manhattan to lower rent and wage areas in Queens. Those are mostly just moving lower wage employees around, not adding 25,000 new, high paying jobs. There are rent protections in NYC that we don't have in New Haven.
I consider it a loss for Queens, but my interest was peaked and I will see if I can find the movie Battle for Brooklyn.
New Haven needs rules that protect existing tenants but allows for neighborhood improvements.

posted by: missthenighthawks on July 4, 2019 1:14pm

The jobs in Queens were not warehouse jobs paying close to minimum wage. They were 25,000 jobs paying an average of $150,000. The payroll taxes alone would pay back the incentives. Amazon committed to giving preference and training to local residents in their hiring.

Where did you get that from.I am from New York.I have friends who sit on the City Council in New York. I send one of them a copy of this and they told not true.all of the jobs were average of $150,000. he told me to that It was a bad deal, plain and simple. Why give so many billions in tax breaks to one of the largest and wealthiest companies? What incentive do they need, more than the incentive to be in NYC? he said Why should we the people have to bend over backwards for Amazon.He told me Amazon's size and market dominance have given it the ability to walk away from even a multibillion-dollar deal relatively painlessly.

The area around where Amazon was going to build their offices is still gentrifying. The average rents have gone up 5% each year over the last 3 years (even before Amazon planned to move there and including this year after Amazon pulled out). The push is primarily employers moving out of Manhattan to lower rent and wage areas in Queens. Those are mostly just moving lower wage employees around, not adding 25,000 new, high paying jobs

That area of queens you are talking about is call Long Island City.Yes New York city is still gentrifying.But Gentrification is starting to die out in New York city.There is almost nothing left.This is why you are seeing a lot of New York Developers now coming to New Haven and even West Haven. In fact A lot of New Yorkers are moving into New Haven and West Haven Milford and Orange.Thinking they could get away from Gentrification in New York.But the one's I met from New York see the Gentrification going up in New Haven.

Part One

Part Two

I consider it a loss for Queens, but my interest was peaked and I will see if I can find the movie Battle for Brooklyn.

The people of Queens do not look at it as a lost.

I live in Long Island City. Here's why Amazon's HQ2 gives me a creeping sense of dread
My ringside view of gentrification just got a whole lot scarier.

While Amazon may be getting a tax break to move into the neighborhood, HQ2 could jack up the rents for many longtime residents. New York City has lost 425,000 affordable housing units over the past 13 years, while the number of apartments that cost more than $2,700 per month has doubled. Bill de Blasio has promised to build more affordable units over the next several years, but those likely won't arrive in time to absorb the incredible demand, especially since Amazon intends to start hiring soon. The issue will prove especially acute in Long Island City, as many Amazon employees will try to live as close to headquarters as possible.It's instructive to study how Amazon's original headquarters impacted downtown Seattle. Although the tax revenues helped power a lot of capital projects—something that surely warms the hearts of Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio—that city has wrestled with rising rents, homelessness, and traffic issues.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90267321/i-live-in-long-island-city-heres-why-amazons-hq2-gives-me-a-creeping-sense-of-dread

And like I said.NYC did not tell Amazon that they were no longer welcome. It was Amazon that decided to back out.

Search on Lost Jobs in NYC from Amazon Decision. Dozens of references.

Ex: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/13/amazon-will-pay-hq2-employees-150000-dollars-that-goes-further-in-nashville.html

There are trade offs in everything in life. Giving Amazon tax breaks may seem repulsive (and they certainly don't need it), but the tax breaks would have been paid back in other taxes in the first year alone. After that, it all benefits the city and its citizens.

posted by: missthenighthawks on July 5, 2019 11:25am
Search on Lost Jobs in NYC from Amazon Decision. Dozens of references.

Ex: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/13/amazon-will-pay-hq2-employees-150000-dollars-that-goes-further-in-nashville.html

Read this.


Half of Jobs at Amazon's Two New Headquarters Won't Be Tech Positions
Many will be administrative, custodial and other staffers

New York City officials said during a presentation Tuesday night that of the at least 25,000 jobs that the online retailer plans to bring to a new headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, 12,500 will be in tech.The other half will be "administrative jobs, custodial staff, HR, all those things," said Eleni Bourinaris-Suarez, vice president of government and community relations at the city's Economic Development Corporation, which helped broker the Queens deal with Amazon.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/half-of-queens-amazon-jobs-wont-be-tech-positions-1542829226

There are trade offs in everything in life. Giving Amazon tax breaks may seem repulsive (and they certainly don't need it), but the tax breaks would have been paid back in other taxes in the first year alone. After that, it all benefits the city and its citizens.

And that with those type of trade offs.The poor and working poor are the one's push out.