Amazon Japan has notified its package delivery drivers that it is lowering compensation rates from April 5 and stated it will terminate contracts if employees do not accept the changes.
For many drivers, the rate changes the company notified them of meant a pay cut, and a number of workers have since reached out to Japan’s Fair Trade Commission.
Among them is a 33‑year‑old man working as a delivery driver in the Kansai region. The job pays him about 100,000 yen ($628) per month, accounting for roughly half of his monthly earnings.
How would such a large number of professionals coordinate their efforts?
You’d need some kind of organization, ideally with a leadership to coordinate actions among its major players. And you’d need lines of communication that weren’t compromised by the business interests you were negotiating against. You’d also need a state body willing to enforce the terms reached by the workforce and its employers. And you’d need a public that valued the dignity and prosperity of individual workers above the potential temporary disruption of the treat train.
Does Japan have any of that?
Not really. Their unions are actually designed to be part of the company rather than external for an entire industry. Since the delivery drivers appear to be contractors they aren’t considered eligible to join the union.