The Common Ills: Episode 121: Amazon Turns Tail and Bolts; Strange Demands by The LATimes Owners

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Episode 121: Amazon Turns Tail and Bolts; Strange Demands by The LATimes Owners

Here’s one thing we learned in recent days about Jeff Bezos—like all CEOs, he’s a bully and quite uninterested in engaging in a give-and-take with community leaders where Amazon does business. I talk to union leader Dave Mertz about the decision by Amazon to back out of the deal to build part of its new headquarters in New York City, mainly because Bezos was unwilling to yield an inch on union rights and other demands to alter the bad terms of the original agreement.

Then, I check back in with the contract negotiations at the Los Angeles Times—a year after the union victory, which I covered, the organizing committee is still battling the company for a first contract, and, now, the newspaper has thrown a pretty bizarre demand into the mix.

Our Robber Baron is the CEO of UBS.

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Episode 121: Amazon Turns Tail and Bolts; Strange Demands by The LATimes Owners

Episode 121: Here’s one thing we learned in recent days about Jeff Bezos—like all CEOs, he’s a bully and quite uninterested in engaging in a give-and-take with community leaders where Amazon does business. I talk to union leader Dave Mertz about the decision by Amazon to back out of the deal to build part of its new headquarters in New York City, mainly because Bezos was unwilling to yield an inch on union rights and other demands to alter the bad terms of the original agreement. Then, I check back in with the contract negotiations at the Los Angeles Times—a year after the union victory, which I covered, the organizing committee is still battling the company for a first contract, and, now, the newspaper has thrown a pretty bizarre demand into the mix. Our Robber Baron is the CEO of UBS.

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