Amazon spokesperson Mary Osako, meanwhile, told Businessweek that “our employees have made it clear that they prefer a direct connection with Amazon.”

“This direct connection is the most effective way to understand and respond to the wants and needs of our employees. Amazon’s culture and business model are based on rapid innovation, flexibility and open lines of direct communication between managers and associates.”

SOURCE: Amazon Workers Vote Against Forming Union | TIME.com.

Lets face it unions today have a pretty bad reputation with many of us. In the past they have tended to make an enemy of the people who hire their workers.  It was always an adversarial arrangement.  Whatever the company wants the union is against. With that reputation it is hard to form unions today. I know I just finished a post recently about a paradigm shift needed to solve the unemployment/education problems in our country but this is another one that will require a similar shift. I hope Amazon is doing just that.

Unions of the past just have to move beyond and adversarial relationship with employers if they hope to have a place in the 21st century. Likewise employers must do what is needed to rekindle the loyalty that many mid-twentieth century companies had. They must once again start treating their workers as assets instead of liabilities.

I admit up front that I have only a limited exposure to the employee side of Amazon but from what I can glean they try to treat their workers with respect and they do pay more than the prevailing wages along with attractive benefits. Jeff Bezos is one of the few present CEOs who seem to look mainly to the long-term future when mapping out his company’s strategies.

Here is a quote from an article about Amazon along with some info about salaries.

The company deserves praise for heavily investing in its business and hiring full-time workers at a time when many other firms are playing it safe. Even an extremely healthy economy is going to include jobs that don’t pay very well. But the fact that President Obama has chosen an Amazon fulfillment center as the backdrop for a speech on how to bring back strong, middle-class jobs illustrates the difficult position the government finds itself in as it tries to encourage a more robust recovery. SOURCE: Amazon’s Hiring Spree Shows Difficulties for American Middle Class | TIME.com

I certainly hope that Amazon is serious that its culture and business model are based on rapid innovation, flexibility and open lines of direct communication between managers and associates.” To be competitive in the coming years will demand a loyal workforce who is willing to adapt to changes as needed. It will require companies to treat their employees with respect and as valuable member of a united team. If unions can adapt to this new paradigm then they will have a place in future society.  If not they will, as the current trends indicate, simply go the way of the dinosaur.