These "Pinkertons'" Tactics... Will Only Engender MORE "Molly McGuires"...

I will mightily enjoy watching all of this unfold, as it would have all been entirely avoidable -- with more sensible, humane and forward thinking HR policies -- and less regressive warehouse management. But whatever -- the moment has arrived and we will now watch the three act play to its conclusion. Counting the vote at Amazon Staten Island No. 2 may take through mid-week, but we should know by Friday. It didn't have to be like this, truly -- that is the shame of it.

Here is the latest from The Wa Po, teeing up its coverage for Monday -- and the vote. But as you will see, this is a wider trend than just one company: Starbucks, Apple and Google as well:

. . .At a Staten Island warehouse set to start its vote on unionizing Monday, Amazon has hired consultants to union bust, mandated classes to discourage organizing and threatened to arrest union leaders for trespassing.

“THE ALU IS TRYING TO INSULT YOUR INTELLIGENCE,” reads a flier handed out there, referring to the upstart Amazon Labor Union. In an attempt to scare workers, it alleges that the new union’s officers “can put you on trial and fine or expel you.” A message from Amazon, taped to one of the warehouse’s snack machines, blares: “The ALU is Lying to you! The only thing they guarantee is. . . you no longer have a voice.”

“There’s a concerted effort to prevent us from talking to workers and a concerted effort to scare workers,” said Julian Mitchell-Israel, an Amazon worker and volunteer union organizer at the warehouse, which would become the company’s second U.S. facility to join the Amazon Labor Union if it votes yes. “It’s not convincing anyone, but it’s pissing them off. . . .”

Meanwhile, employees at an Atlanta Apple Store on Wednesday became the first to file for a vote on unionizing, and other stores are closer to doing the same. Contract workers at a Google Fiber store in Kansas City, Mo., who are employed by a third-party firm, unionized in March. . . .

Those most ignorant of history -- in this case Woody Guthrie's narrative on union labor in the US. . . are doomed, to repeat it. Though to be fair, my headline is hyperbole -- for clicks.

I don't think we will ever see a return of the McGuires, or the murders committed by Pinkerton mercenaries. . . thankfully the time of open labor riots and lethal violence from private thugs. . . has come to an end. Onward, smiling expectantly, as we await the outcome tomorrow -- or by Friday, more likely.

नमस्ते