The unveiling of the proposed Amazon HQ in Long Island City was the end of the year slap in the face to working-class New Yorkers. Governor Cuomo decided to grant one of the richest men in the world and his company Amazon with a damn near 3 billion dollar tax break with state subsidized funds, also known as New York taxpayer money. Jeff Bezos and Amazon plan to bring 25,000 jobs to New York City with this proposed headquarters but who will be filling those positions up? Surely not native New Yorkers. Long Island City is already one of the most gentrified neighborhoods in Queens and this Amazon HQ will surely further plague the neighborhood.
The increased gentrification of NYC has made ACTUAL affordable housing harder to obtain for working-class New Yorkers. Who cares though when Jeff Bezos is getting a fucking helipad, right? The richest company in the world was granted CORPORATE WELFARE while working-class New Yorkers struggle with shitty public transportation, education, lack of affordable housing and student debt. With this CORPORATE WELFARE granted to Amazon, New Yorkers will most likely see a slash in social services that are a necessity with gentrification making living harder for working-class people. Letitia James, Jumaane Williams, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Ydanis Rodriguez and Yvette Clarke are just a few popular NYC politicians that signed on in FAVOR of Long Island City becoming the site for Amazon’s new HQ.
Not to mention, several reports have come out about Amazon’s deplorable treatment of its workers:
A separate survey released Sunday by labor group Organise found that 74% of 102 fulfillment employees surveyed avoided using the bathroom to prevent disciplinary action. Most said they were concerned about missing increasingly high targets. 55% said they have suffered from depression since starting their work at Amazon, and 57% said they’ve been more anxious. Another undercover report in The Mirror by Alan Selby documents disturbing conditions in fulfillment centers — workers were asked to stand for the entirety of their 10-hour shifts, except for two 30-minute breaks. Bathroom breaks were automatically timed by work stations. Selby says he witnessed someone collapse and saw another have a panic attack after learning they would have to work a 55-hour week during Christmas. “ – DIGG MAGAZINE, 2018
We all know Queens as the most diverse borough of New York City, home to someone from almost every nation, country, and island in the world. Queens has a high population of immigrants within it and Amazon is helping the Trump administration by providing technology to ICE:
Asked about Amazon’s efforts to sell facial recognition technology to ICE, Huseman replied, “We provide that recognition service to a variety of agencies and government should have the best technology.” He said the company has a “positive record” on immigration, including advocating for Dreamers and green card reform. – Gothamist.com, 2018
So Amazon is helping NYC while helping Trump with his deportation machine? Lets now talk about the NYCHA residents of Long Island City who are stiffed with this deal. Residents of Queensbridge Houses won’t get preferential treatment in terms of employment with Amazon either. They’ll only get “job training,” which we see is the common “benefit” when companies come to rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods to lessen the blow.
So whether you support this shitty ass Amazon deal or not, you better know that none of this shit is for New Yorkers who need it the most, but one of the richest men in the world got free taxpayer money, as if he fucking needed anymore.
I fear this is just the beginning; and you’re definitely right about those 25k positions, I’m willing to bet that at least half of them are already filled. Huge corps like Amazon are typically willing to fund their employees transitions/moves – even if it’s cross-country.
Yup! It happened in Seattle!