Squeezed Workers Versus Power And Wealth

The Supreme Court kicked off its 2014-2015 term with a case called Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc. v. Busk. The issue in the case is whether employees who do work for Amazon had a right to be paid for time they spent waiting - for as long as 25 minutes - to be screened for theft.
Or, to be more accurate, this is a case in which Amazon was not named as a party in the case, because other corporations acted on Amazon's behalf. In this case, the named defendant was Integrity Staffing Solutions (ISS).
The Integrity Staffing Solutions website clearly shows that it is an agent of Amazon who acts on Amazon's behalf. For example, the website says, "Here's where to find Amazon warehouse jobs, light industrial work, temporary and seasonal jobs, part-time employment and a job to make you proud." Indeed, Integrity Staffing's website advertises a number of jobs, but it has specific links only to jobs at Amazon.

What This Case Is About
No doubt, there are many ways to think about this case. It is certainly fair to say that this is a case involving a powerful and wealthy corporation that uses its power and wealth to squeeze workers who have little-to-no power and no wealth. What evidence do we have that Amazon has used that wealth and power in this case? According to www.oyez.org:

At the end of each day, all the workers were required to pass through a security clearance checkpoint where they had to remove their keys, wallets, and belts, pass through a metal detector, and submit to being searched. The whole process could take up to 25 minutes. Similarly, up to ten minutes of the workers' 30-minute lunch period was consumed by security clearance and transition time. In 2010, Busk and Castro sued Integrity and argued that these practices violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as well as Nevada state labor laws.

Amazon is known for creating systems that generate as much revenue as possible for Amazon and that do so by squeezing every penny out of Amazon's system.

Amazon Is Not a Party to the Case or Is It? 
The American Bar Association's website for this case - and all Supreme Court cases - includes links to the parties' briefs and to amicus briefs. In the Amazon case, notice that, although the plaintiff-employees were doing work for Amazon and Amazon was calling the shots, Amazon was not the focus of this case. In fact, Amazon was not even a party in the case.
The parties are plaintiffs Jesse Busk and Laurie Castro, and the defendant is Integrity Staffing Solutions, not Amazon. It may seem odd that Amazon was not a party when the work was carried out on Amazon's behalf, and the outcome of this case could affect Amazon in the future.

In fact, even though there is almost no mention of Amazon, Amazon's interests were well represented. Amazon's subcontractor - Integrity Staffing Solutions - was the defendant and effectively represented Amazon's interests.
Amazon's interests were also represented by most of the organizations that filed amicus briefs in support of Integrity Staffing Solutions, including briefs by National League of Cities, National Association of Counties, the International City/County Management Association, US Conference of Mayors, Government Finance Officers Association, International Municipal Lawyers Association, National Public Employer Labor Relations Association, and the International Public Management Association For Human Resources, National Retail Federation, the Retail Litigation Center, Inc., Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America, Society for Human Resource Management, National Association of Manufacturers, National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, and the United States.

Only two amicus briefs were filed on behalf of the plaintiff employees, one filed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the other filed by the National Employment Lawyers Association.

What Is at Stake in This Case?

It appears that Amazon, that is, Integrity Staffing Solutions, has chosen to be a thoroughly modern, cost-cutting corporation that uses every angle to pay its workers as little as possible. For example, Integrity's workers have an unpaid, half hour lunch, during which the workers must also spend roughly 10 minutes being scanned and searched.
If the plaintiff employees win this case, their employer will no longer be able to get free work, and the employer will have an incentive to hire more workers to speed up the time it takes the workers to go through the security line during their lunchtime and at their shift's end.

taken from here

Whilst recognising the seemingly 'unfair' aspect of extra time spent on work premises without pay - another benefit for the employer - the employer is always able to 'get free work', and every day does 'get free work' from ALL employees.
Ask 'where does the wealth come from?'


" How does profit arise from the exploitation of workers? Workers are paid (generally and more or less) the full value of what they sold – their labour-power – yet are still exploited because the exercise of their labour-power produces a greater value than that of their labour-power. This “surplus value” is the source of their employer’s profit and of all capitalist property incomes."
(See here for full explanation)