Chapter 848

Over the weekend, in the media's heated discussion on the first day of igritte's listing, igritte's share price continued to rise for three consecutive days in the new week when the North American stock market opened. Its market value once exceeded $260 billion, and the NASDAQ technology stock market continued to march forward.

Until October 12.

James Mann, a former employee of the logistics distribution center of Amazon online mall in Wisconsin, suddenly filed a lawsuit to the local court, accusing the online mall team of illegally preventing its employees from forming a union to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and maliciously suppressing union advocates.

James Mann, 37, was hired as a sorter of Amazon's Wisconsin logistics distribution center last year. In the public prosecution documents, the middle-aged man claimed that he was fired in June this year because he was suppressed by actively calling on the employees of the distribution center to form a union after he joined the company last year and has been unemployed at home.

James Mann asked igritte to make an official written apology for the incident, pay more attention to guaranteeing the legitimate rights and interests of workers, and ask for all kinds of compensation totaling 16 million US dollars.

In an interview with a local TV station, James Mann also pointed the spearhead at Simon and igritte's top management, accusing that igritte's IPO has made a large number of people become billionaires and millionaires. However, the employees of Wisconsin distribution plant can only get $9 an hour in long, boring and repetitive work every day, far lower than the former GM factory worker The former employee of the company was paid $23 an hour.

James Mann believes that this serious unfair situation is mainly due to the current severe crackdown on trade unions by various enterprises, which makes the bottom workers unable to protect their own rights and interests. Therefore, in the interview, he also called on the distribution center employees to unite again to form a trade union.

The response of igritte's media PR team was very timely.

James Mann hit back immediately.

It's a complete stigma to smoke and go slow. It's mainly because middle-aged people happen to be ill at that time.

You come and I go.

This kind of lawsuit can't be solved in a short time, and it will certainly drag on for a long time. Igrit, who has a strong legal team, is not afraid of this kind of drag. He can't get rid of it when he sees a move.

Simon never felt that a lot of things happened for no reason.

Just like this time.

After some investigation, the results were quickly obtained. One partner of the Wisconsin law firm that supported James Mann's lawsuit against igritte happened to be the husband of an assistant to the team of Democratic Senator Craig Ames, who was defeated in last year's mid-term election.

Some of the small around the relationship, a little combing but also clear.

The other side suddenly set off such a thing, most likely to prepare for next year's election. 1996 is not only a presidential election year, but also a biennial year for the change of Congress.

The local Democratic Party in Wisconsin obviously wants to regain the initiative it lost in last year's mid-term elections.

Senators serve for six years.

Robert hotwell, who defeated Craig Ames last year, is still in a stable position. The number of other senators is less than the year of transition. The Democratic Party can only make up for it in the biennial House election. In addition, Clinton won 10 electoral votes in Wisconsin in the 1992 election, which is not an dispensable number, It may also have the consideration of attracting the bottom public to stabilize this one vote position.

The rust belt unions have always been strong supporters of the Democratic Party.

As for the integrity of the Clintons, it doesn't matter whether they want to be in the White House or not.

Simon believes the lawsuit is just an appetizer.

The current state of the westero system can no longer be described as a tree in the forest. It is a towering giant tree standing on the flat prairie, where you can find any evil wind and evil spirit.

Sure enough, one weekend after Robert Mann sued, on October 16, more than 200 truck drivers of the three contractors responsible for the transportation task of the Wisconsin distribution center suddenly announced a strike, which directly led to the paralysis of the business of the distribution center.

The usual strike is usually carried out after the breakdown of the negotiation between employees and employers.

This time it's a surprise.

A total surprise attack.

The news soon broke out that the truck drivers of one of the contractors were dissatisfied with the company's compensation for a traffic accident that had been pestering for more than a month. Therefore, the truck drivers' Union of the United States directly decided to bypass the contractor in the form of strike and put forward conditions to igritte company, asking igritte to abandon the contractor mode and establish an exclusive department of transportation The door employs a team of truck drivers directly.

If last week's lawsuit is just an appetizer that has restrained the rise of igrit's share price, the sudden strike of truck drivers has paralyzed one of Amazon's large logistics distribution centers, which is a very obvious direct impact.

The relationship of interests involved in this matter is also quite complicated.

At the political level, and even those who are planning to short the technology stocks of the Westeros system, it's just that the matter itself is rather complicated.First of all, it starts with the operation mode of Amazon's logistics distribution system.

At this stage, the logistics distribution system of Amazon online mall is only a primary stage of the development of e-commerce. Amazon's construction of logistics distribution centers around the United States is only the first stage of delivery from Amazon warehouse to contracted express company, not direct to customers.

Because the traditional American Express is expensive and slow, the official takes the initiative to take charge of the first stage of delivery, which can not only improve the efficiency, shorten the delivery schedule, but also greatly reduce the cost. After completing the first stage of delivery, USPS and other express companies obtain the express, and then use their own perfect national distribution network to deliver the packages to specific customers.

During the construction of Amazon's primary distribution system, in order to avoid the entanglement of the large-scale American truck drivers' Union, Amazon chose the outsourcing mode and split the transportation business to different small transportation companies instead of setting up its own transportation team.

This is Simon's own design based on Amazon's business model in his memory.

The employees in the logistics distribution center belong to a new type of work, so there is no old trade union to rely on. It is relatively easy to stop these employees from forming trade unions.

The truck drivers' Union in the United States is an old trade union that has existed for many years like the United Auto Workers' Union. The number of union members reaches 1.4 million, which is larger than the rapidly declining United Auto Workers' Union.

E-commerce business is bound to shoulder more than 70% of the U.S. local capacity of truck transportation.

So it's a detour.

Adding a layer of contractors will certainly increase the cost to a certain extent. However, through many independent small transport companies as a buffer and avoiding direct contact with the truck drivers' Union, igrit can definitely save more in the long run.

Otherwise, if the transportation department is set up to hire truck drivers directly, with the growing e-commerce business of igritte, hundreds of thousands of truck drivers attached to Amazon's logistics distribution network in the future, backed by trade unions, will definitely become igritte's nightmare, and the negative impact will be no less than that of the auto workers who are still attached to the US auto giants The Federation.

Why the government departments in the United States are so inefficient that they are compared to otters in the later crazy animal City, why the service quality of American Airlines is so poor that they often treat passengers violently and even beat their heads to blood, and why some municipal projects in the United States can be completed in a single day in China, but can often be delayed for several months, are all due to the trade unions .

There is no fear.

The major auto giants in the United States can also lower costs by moving their factories overseas. It is obvious that igritte's e-commerce business is not feasible to do so. If we agree to the conditions of the truck drivers' Union, and the transportation department directly under the union keeps demanding high salaries and benefits, and it is still completely inefficient, there is no need for the Amazon online mall under igrit to survive.

There is no shortage of smart people in this world.

The intention of igrit's outsourcing strategy is not obscure. The truck drivers union of the United States finds it difficult for its members to take advantage of a large group of small transportation companies. Igrit, who has just completed its IPO, is a fat and fluid company, which naturally leads to the idea of eating big customers.

This sudden attack is obviously a trial.

If igritte makes a compromise in Wisconsin, the next thing will be very easy. As long as a large number of truck drivers change from indirect contractor employees to regular employees of igrit, the company is not at the mercy of the truck drivers union of America.

Both sides understood each other's intentions. The truck drivers' Union suddenly attacked, and igritte's side was also straightforward. Several responsible persons understood what would happen if the truck drivers' Union succeeded, so they resolutely suspended the operation of Wisconsin distribution center.

Then it's still a fight.

The truck drivers' Union suddenly chose to go on strike without any communication. This time, igrit is actually the right party.

However, the truck drivers' Union wants to communicate with igrit directly, but it will not let igrit succeed. It publicly accuses the truck drivers' Union of reckless strike and lack of credibility. At the same time, igrit has made another move, stating that it will investigate the losses caused to igrit by the three contractors.

In any case, we will not accept the request of the truck drivers' Union of the United States to set up a transportation department directly under igrit. We will not even think about the dialogue. We just urge the truck drivers' Union and the contractor to resolve their differences as soon as possible.

Wisconsin distribution center is mainly responsible for distribution services in five central states of the United States.

While suspending the Wisconsin distribution center, the Amazon team also made up for the market vacancy caused by the suspension of the distribution center through other channels for the first time. It also made a public opinion campaign in Wisconsin, saying that once the Wisconsin distribution center is suspended for more than two weeks and the business is undertaken by other distribution centers, igritte will be responsible for the Wisconsin distribution center Send them to the center for layoffs.

Those truck drivers who suddenly strike will be blacklisted by igrit.

When the news spread, many people suddenly had some silly eyes.

Located in the rust belt, Wisconsin is the state with the highest unemployment rate in recent years. Recently, the unemployment rate has dropped from 8.6% two years ago to 6.1%, still higher than the current federal unemployment rate of 5.6%.Therefore, it is very difficult for the employees of Amazon logistics distribution center to have such a low threshold and salary level. Otherwise, even with official lobbying, only 21% of the employees of the distribution center would have voted for the labor union vote at the beginning of the year.

It's $9 an hour, which is also a figure Simon has personally worked out. In the housekeeper's original plan, the basic hourly salary was only $7.

Not only for a group of senior executives, but also for the whole westerosian system, Simon has been deliberately offering a relatively high treatment, because he always believes that it can mobilize the enthusiasm of employees to a great extent and generate a sense of loyalty and belonging.

In addition to the relatively high salary, the school of the children of the employees in the Wisconsin distribution center has been specially cared for by the westero family foundation for more than a year. In the future, all the descendants of "westerosian" will have more opportunities to climb to the top.

However, the relatively high level is by no means unreasonable, and Simon will not accept the restraint and coercion of the trade union.

If Simon doesn't want to give it, nobody wants to rob it.

At the same time, the truck drivers' Union's sudden attack on igritte's e-commerce business, coupled with other ghosts and goblins jumping around one after another, has a very intuitive impact.

On October 16, igrit's share price fell by 2.1%, and then fell by more than 3% in the next few days. The strike lasted until October 20. In five days, the overall decline of igrit's share price has reached 6.2%. At the close of Friday, igrit's market value has dropped from $253.7 billion on Monday to $237.9 billion, and its book loss has exceeded $15 billion.