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Comment by missedthecue | Hacker News Reader

Amazon net income is less than $30B. They also do not pay dividends.

I'd expect that an across-the-board increase in Amazon prices would be a side effect of unionization and wage increases, perhaps by 10%. I don't think that this would reduce consumer demand much, however, or make Amazon a non-viable concern.

And that is basically all AWS. Retail has actually lost money in the past 3 quarters.

If they cannot afford a good salary, then the business is a liability

This is a fun soundbite, but it's completely arbitrary and meaningless. You could just as easily and accurately come up with something along the lines of "if a union causes its employer financial distress, it is a liability".

I think a key fact is the right to unionise in America is protected by law. You could make two contradictory statements like:

> If they cannot afford proper safety equipment then the business is a liability.

And

> If buying safety equipment causes an employer financial distress then it is a liability.

But I think most people would agree with the first statement and disagree with the second.

>"if a union causes its employer financial distress, it is a liability".

Except that has been an actual feature of unions. Plenty of unions have agreed on work reduction and other cost abating ways to help a struggling company continue to function in times of distress. Workers plenty well understand that a failed company provides them none of the benefits of the union.

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