Francesco Massimo is a PhD student. He is currently finishing a dissertation on the organization of work, labor conflicts, and Amazon logistics strategy.
Market ideologues paint Amazon as a model of a flexible, networked platform capitalism. Yet Amazon’s growth has revitalized parts of the Fordism that Silicon Valley claimed to have overcome — including the rise of an organized blue-collar workforce.
Ahead of the French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron’s poll lead has shrunk to almost zero. After years of battering France with unpopular reforms, even the call to rally against the far right is producing diminishing returns.
Yesterday, Amazon workers in Italy held the first nationwide strike in the company’s history. Jeff Bezos’s firm has long used subcontracting, temporary hiring, and a maze of contracts to divide its workforce — but unionizing warehouse staff have made common cause with outsourced delivery drivers.
Millions of people stuck at home means more orders for Amazon. But squeezed Amazon employees in France and Italy didn’t want to be “essential workers” — and they launched a wave of strikes to demand a shutdown.