Opinion Today: What would you give up for someone else’s rights?

This man walked away from millions of dollars.

View in browser|nytimes.com Continue reading the main story July 29, 2020 By Max Strasser International Editor, Opinion Would you walk away from several million dollars to stand up for someone else’s rights? I’d like to think that I know what answer I’d give, but one can never be sure. Unless you’re Tim Bray. In May, he quit his job as a vice president at Amazon Web Services — and in doing so likely sacrificed millions of dollars in compensation — to protest the fact that Amazon fired workers who were raising concerns about health and safety issues in the company’s warehouses. Tim has an Op-Ed in The Times today, written with Christy Hoffman, the general secretary of UNI Global Union, taking his position even further: Amazon workers need a union, they write. Amazon’s chief executive, Jeff Bezos, will testify today in front of a House antitrust committee. The questions put to him will likely focus more on consumers than on workers, but it’s worth remembering the people who labor to make Amazon profitable: the delivery drivers and warehouse workers who are putting their health on the line. (Bezos is the richest man in the world, worth nearly $180 billion, and his company’s share price has skyrocketed thanks to the pandemic.) Unions work. They lead to higher wages and better working conditions. (I recommend reading Cole Stangler’s piece from April on how unions successfully took on Amazon in France to get better workplace safety.) They require, essentially, some sacrifice: profits for people. Maybe you wouldn’t leave millions of dollars on the table. But what is the most you would be willing to give up to protect workers’ rights? Would you pay higher prices? Accept longer delivery times? Continue reading the main story ADVERTISEMENT Jason Redmond/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images   Amazon Has Too Much Power. Take It Back. 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