Amazon is well known for its anti union activity and
also horrible working conditions.
But they want to ensure that they mitigate some of that bad PR by implementing
propaganda in our public schools and they're literally already doing that.
We have one example of a public school in san Bernardino California
that has taken a giant amount of money from amazon and
has used it to push out this pro corporate, pro amazon class.
Now, in 2019 Cajon high school in san Bernardino California started
offering the amazon logistics and business management pathway.
A first of its kind series of course is intended to help
students get a head start in a career in logistics.
Sounds like it's a training program for future amazon workers.
Let me give you more Amazon actually donated $50,000 to provide
the materials to start this program.
And they apparently also use that money to like re decorate the classroom as well.
And what do they re decorate that classroom with?
Well why don't we take a quick look at this photo?
This is an actual photo from the class that's being offered in San Bernardino.
This is a public school guys and they use the amazon yellow signature yellow and
then they have amazon's leadership principles written on the walls.
Which includes customer obsession bias for action and deliver results.
Now, what do they teach exactly in this class?
The curriculum for the courses which includes lesson plans on managing
labor unions, making ethical decisions and motivating employees
were written by a team of educators according to Corina borsa.
A spokesperson for the SAN Bernardino Unified School District with
amazon acting only as an industry expert and offering internships,
meaning unpaid labor to students in the program.
But just because amazon doesn't write the whole curriculum doesn't mean that they
don't have influence over what's being taught.
Okay, they absolutely do have influence over what's being taught.
In fact, one document that was obtained about the creation of this
program states that one of its goals is to coach teachers on how to establish and
develop an effective industry partnership with amazon.
You guys, the media and and politics right now is completely dominated
with a nonsense debate about critical race theory in public schools.
Critical race theory, a graduate level curriculum that
is not being taught in public schools at the same time,
corporations are coming in and filling a void that's being left.
Thanks to the underfunding of our public schools,
they're like, looks like your schools underfunded.
How about $50,000 all you need to do is allow us to spread our anti union,
pro corporate propaganda to your students and not a word, not a peep.
You don't hear democrats making a big deal about this,
partly because they're just as pro corporate as republicans these days.
So, while everyone's focusing on a non existent problem in our public
schools in regard to CRT, we've got amazon teaching
classes in our public schools teaching students how to bust unions.
Literally, I'll get to those details in just a moment.
But before I do was I'd love to get your thoughts,
man, this is so insidious on so many levels, right?
>> When you think about young, impressionable people and
what I think the corporate class in our country is so
effectively done over the course of decades.
This is decades of work where Americans used to think
of themselves as worker or boss or business person etc.
Now we all think of ourselves as consumers.
And the way they position this is what's best for the customer.
Everybody, everybody feels like a customer, right?
Like everybody can relate to that no matter who you are,
what your socioeconomic background is, everybody feels like a consumer.
And so, the fact that they position it that way is so,
it's so scary, but it's right out of the Koch brothers playbook, right?
They were like, look, these kids are freaking being indoctrinated by
these commie, leftist idiots on the universities and all of that.
We got to get some programs in the universities,
we gotta get some programs in high schools.
We gotta get an early with the young kids and
that's amazon obviously sees a hole there and they're gonna fill it.
Of course, this is, it's obvious that they're going to do that.
They're not gonna fund some class where amazon is seen for what they are,
which is just, you know, just rapacious corporate monopolistic, just disgusting.
Of course not, they're gonna give them the no, we're amazon,
you get your packages in two days, don't you love it as a customer?
Don't ever think of yourself as somebody who might have to work at one of these
warehouses or drive one of these trucks?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Just think of the person that's always receiving the package is what's
best for that.
It's crazy, but this is, this is right out of the playbook.
>> I'm also curious if there are specific lessons in regard to how to effectively
defecate in a plastic bag when you're in a rush to deliver packages.
>> [LAUGH].
>> But you've got to meet a quota of packages delivered every day.
Is there a class on methods in which you can urinate in
a plastic bottle with no spillage?
I mean, these are important questions, are the students learning about these things,
people want to know, really important skills that amazon workers have,
unfortunately had had to have.
Much of the curriculum as you can imagine, is very, very pro business said
Eric Nilsson, he's an economics professor at Cal State University San Bernardino.
Questions for an amazon pathways class called business management and
entrepreneurship as students, why are mergers and acquisitions?
In other words, consolidation important to a company's overall growth and
what can uber due to ensure its competitors are not chipping
away at its dominant market share as a result of such bad press.
Really important stuff here was I'm also curious how they reconcile
certain conflicts and messaging, right?
Because on one hand,
the argument is capitalism's great, you have unlimited choices.
But then on the other hand, mergers and
acquisitions are very important and we want to support that.
Okay.
[LAUGH] It's just amazing.
It's just all of this is so amazing.
>> Free market principles just only apply when the government bodies want to come in
and regulate these guys, right?
Like that's the only time they're like, look, we want free market no holds barred.
We love it.
The competition let the reins off.
Let's go.
Obviously they're pro monopoly,
because that's how you dominate market sharing, maximize your profits.
They don't, you're not gonna hear anything about antitrust and an amazon curriculum.
No, it's about, look, we have to gobble up everything.
This is how business work, it works.
Kids don't think about your workforce as human beings might have kids and
tuition and babysitters and fool.
Don't think about those people in their needs.
Think about the nameless faceless organization and
what it takes to maximize our profits.
Like this is, man, this is pretty ugly stuff, to be honest.
And again, and I'm glad you mentioned about democrats,
republicans, it's Bs, right?
Those both parties are wholly captured by the business interests and,
you know, basically our oligarchs Barack Obama got $100 million for
his personal shrine to himself from Jeff Bezos $100 million.
Okay, that's insane, right?
So, that just goes to show.
And again, Barack and I say that because Barack Obama is essentially the pope of
the Democratic Party and this guy got $100 million donation from Jeff bezels.
So, who's gonna come out and speak up against these ridiculous practices?
Nobody, nobody.
>> I mean, this is the first time I've ever heard of amazon
funding public schools to teach these pro business classes.
And, and by the way, of course,
there's even courses that specifically focused on busting unions.
It was exposed in the labor board investigation that amazon reps openly,
by the way, degraded union organizers to workers amazon employees at JFK eight.
Its largest new York city warehouse filed a complaint with the National
labor relations board over a series of unfair labor practice charge is so
let me give you the details on that real quick.
This is graphic seven on May 4th Bradley Moss, a union avoidance consultant brought
into JFK eight to convince workers against unionizing with amazon labor union.
Threatened amazon employees and told them it quote would be a futile,
it would be futile for them to select the union as their bargaining representative.
By telling employees that the union organizing would fail because
the union organizers were thugs you didn't organizers
are thugs the people by the way, amazon fairly recently.
We covered this story on the show was stealing tips from amazon delivery
drivers, individuals who are tasked with delivering groceries like
through amazon fresh or whatever it might be titled.
Something different depending on where you live.
But when you order groceries through amazon to be delivered to your home,
you have an option to tip the people who deliver it to you.
And it turned out that amazon was just stealing those tips,
just stealing them, but they're not the thugs, they're not the thugs,
the unions and the people who want to organize the workplace.
They're the thugs according to amazon.
And isn't it so wonderful that this is the garbage that they're teaching high school
students right now.
>> What was that guy's job title?
Labor avoidance officer.
Crazy job title.
Dude [LAUGH] like what?
Like wow, yeah, look, okay.
It goes on and on and on, right?
Like you don't become this type of mega monstrous company
without practicing in these kinds of things.
It's, it's obvious and you know the way you free yourself up again to have
the loose change to acquire something like whole foods or
any of the other companies that they've gobbled up right?
Like you get you acquire that loose change by again,
scraping workers over the head at every single turn.
Like that's obvious,
but that that guy's job title just floored me right there [LAUGH].
>> Yeah, no, I mean think about it.
It's the most important job in the corporate world,
especially at a time when we're seeing increasing labor militancy.
Let's keep it real.
And look, we've shared so many stories on the show of workers who
decided to strike and they got higher wages.
We gave you the example of Kroger workers, King supers in Denver colorado.
They decided to strike.
Some of them got raises up to $5 an additional $5 an hour.
Companies do not want that happening.
They do not want to pay higher wages.
They do not want to have better benefits for their workers.
So, just keep that in mind as these,
the real thugs are trying to fight back against people organizing at work.