I wrote Amazon a couple of days ago and received the same reply. Below is my reply to their reply. They have not responded as yet and I doubt that they will. Only one official corporate statement per customer.
<< << Amazon has always prided itself on the level of interactive dialogue
between and among its employees. Consistent with that, the company
continues to engage in constructive dialogue with its employees about
issues of concern to them. >>
Really?
The information below comes from an article in Business Week, not exactly union or worker friendly. If what Business Week reports is indicative of Amazon's "constructive dialogue" then I will continue to boycott you, and I will urge others to do so as well.
Come on! Do the right thing...
Bob Patenaude
PS- as someone who has worked since I was 14 (now 50) I find the "everybody is an owner" crack truly offensive. People can't eat or pay their rent with Bezos's New Age crap. Take care of your people, why don't you...
BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : DECEMBER 4, 2000 ISSUE
THE WORKPLACE
A Union for Amazon?
..."I'm not concerned at all that it will disrupt the
holidays,'' says Bezos, after a tour for reporters of the Fernley, Nev.,
warehouse. ''We don't believe in unions, because everybody is an owner, and
everybody has rights as individuals to talk about workplace concerns.''
...Amazon workers say they are acting now because they are fed up with a giant
that still acts like a startup. Service reps, who say they were attracted
to Amazon in part because of its team spirit, are calling their group
Day2 at Amazon.com, because: ''Bezos is always telling us, 'It's Day One, we
can't stop or rest,' and we think five years of Day One is generating lots
of problems for us,'' says Zach Works, a 24-year-old rep in Seattle. He and
others say management no longer listens to their problems. They routinely
work 50-hour weeks, going up to 70 in the holidays, says Jennifer McDaeth,
another Seattle rep. And managers change their shifts, sometimes on as
little as a day's notice, making the job even more stressful, she says.
''We're known as a customer-centric company, but all this makes it harder
to do our job,'' says McDaeth. Reps are also unhappy about their pay,
especially since their much-vaunted options aren't worth what they once
were. CEO Bezos counters that employees shouldn't expect to make quick
money: ''An obligation of ownership is long-term thinking,'' he says. But
the stock plunge has hurt. Zach Works started at $10 an hour, $2 less than
his prior job at a bottled-water company. He got promoted but says his
current $13 an hour isn't competitive with other customer-rep jobs in
Seattle. Works received options that now number 1,500 after stock splits.
But the stock dipped below his $21 strike price last month before
rebounding. ''Most of my colleagues are under water, and we all know it
will be many moons before we see any benefit from our options,'' he says.
Employees say they also worry that the company will move their jobs to new
offices in North Dakota and West Virginia, where Amazon pays as little as
$7 an hour.