Amazon: Big Deals for Shoppers, Bigger Cuts for Workers
Amazon's 'big deal days' are indeed, as MSNBC points out, not for delivery workers. These are the same workers (often misclassified as independent contractors to avoid benefits and protections) whose labor fuels Amazon’s record-breaking revenue figures—$574.85 billion in 2023. While the article touches on stagnant wages and brutal working conditions, it politely omits the systemic issue: Bezos
himself extracted over $24 billion in personal wealth in 2020 alone, a period where critics widely highlighted his company's aggressive anti-union tactics and poor labor practices across its vast network. How many 'big deals' must a worker endure before 'big justice' becomes part of the conversation? Instead of addressing the root of the exploitation—unfettered corporate power and the complicity
of a political system that enables it—MSNBC offers an opinion piece that, while sympathetic, ultimately frames it as an unfortunate byproduct of commerce, rather than a direct consequence of policies benefiting a select few. It’s almost as if pointing too directly at the system might upset the very corporate advertisers funding their 'analyses.'