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Public protest against Amazon

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Re: Public protest against Amazon

#21

Post by the-pigeon »

huhtenberg wrote: post #5

This really needs the second half of the story before we all get our trusty pitchforks and start making a shish-kebab from this Khan person.

The problem with this story is that it's more about an abusive boss at Amazon than Amazon.

Any large company is going to have abusive individuals in it. I think the real issue this story illustrates is that when people are brought over on work visas they have no leverage with their employer.

As an American citizen software engineer my boss knows that if I'm unhappy I will just leave. But the boss of someone on a work visa knows they can do pretty much whatever they want to them and the employee is just stuck.

So we need to change the work visa system so those employees aren't in such a vulnerable position. How exactly? I don't know..

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#22

Post by omegaworks »

forgotmypw3 wrote: post #13

I want to preface this comment with a statement that in no way am I trying to blame the victim here, only to point out what can be learned from this situation. This is certainly not the first time I've heard of Amazon being a shitty place to work at, and I don't see much reason to doubt the story of a vindictive boss doing everything they can to make an employee miserable after learning that the employee submitted ba…

>If you are at your job as part of your Visa process, you are essentially a slave with a slave's rights to match, and you are better off not rocking the boat if you want to complete the process.

This is why it is critical for people with citizenship to advocate for their coworkers with visas, both within the context of their workplace and outside. Pressure your congressional representatives to pursue comprehensive immigration reform. Have a conversation with HR about visa-blind recruitment and retention policies.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#23

Post by bitL »

It's funny how you often notice bullies getting promoted - is destruction of a low-level person a rite of passage for a middle manager to get ahead at many US corporations these days? I can imagine if they select for some dark-triad characteristics and going all-in, demonstrating cold/calculating/cruel moves while keeping paperwork clean signalizes the right person?

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#24

Post by alexandercrohde »

gpm wrote: post #18
_0nac wrote: post #4

> I am sure in the future Mr Bezos will be placed in one line with Adolf Hitler as an example of genocide. The guy may have a case somewhere in there, but this kind of hyperbole isn't doing it any favors. Stripping out the fluff, the concrete concerns seem to be: - Denied permission to transfer - Denied permission to WFH - Placed on PIP and eventually fired The author's hypothesis is "manager is evil and this is all…

- Left negative feedback for manager -> Prohibited to leave feedback by manager. - Required to work on weekends. - Denied some form of immigration benefits behind his back. - Told that his wife having a job has anything whatsoever with him being able to transfer. - The above being a lie. - Required to show up 4 hours before everyone else. - Punished for using sick days. I don't think any of the concrete concerns I li…

I hope he has written email records of all of these claims. If so I'm quite confident he'll have a strong court case.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#25

Post by bitL »

ownagefool wrote: post #14

I had a manager that took over from a previous person when I was working remote. There were a few issues, but the one that stands out is they flew me down to London for a week, set me up in a hotel, and had me take taxis back and fourth to the office and expense food etc. After returning home, he rejected my expenses because of variance of costs of the taxis, despite me pointing out that I was using the stipulated ve…

So mission accomplished from his point of view: "This person is weak, let's just add some adversities to their life, they would quit; my cousin can't wait to join us."

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#26

Post by RHSeeger »

org3432 wrote: post #12

This kind of retribution is pretty normal from the companies I've worked it, it's clumsy that it ended up in writing here and a bit more vicious than usual with a child involved. Normally it's done offline in private conversations or simply as something that's understood between like minded managers with passing comments. One manager I had was pretty candid about it, he said he couldn't find another job and was looki…

That seems like something you bring up with him to discuss if there's a way to avoid it; and then tape the whole discussion.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#27

Post by omegaworks »

the-pigeon wrote: post #17
forgotmypw3 wrote: post #13

I want to preface this comment with a statement that in no way am I trying to blame the victim here, only to point out what can be learned from this situation. This is certainly not the first time I've heard of Amazon being a shitty place to work at, and I don't see much reason to doubt the story of a vindictive boss doing everything they can to make an employee miserable after learning that the employee submitted ba…

Regarding number 2. I absolutely agree and we need to change the visa system to prevent the routine abuse that happens to people because of it. Though I don't know how we can change it to prevent that.

Call your house representative and two senators in Congress, and write them each a letter about the abuse. Let them know you value your coworkers and that they should be able to enjoy the same labor rights that you do.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#28

Post by jondubois »

It's just too big as a company. It cannot be fair. With all those layers of middle managers, talented people are bound to get ignored and fall through the cracks; suppressed by managers whose only interest is maintaining the status quo.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#30

Post by bitL »

omegaworks wrote: post #27
the-pigeon wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding number 2. I absolutely agree and we need to change the visa system to prevent the routine abuse that happens to people because of it. Though I don't know how we can change it to prevent that.

Call your house representative and two senators in Congress, and write them each a letter about the abuse. Let them know you value your coworkers and that they should be able to enjoy the same labor rights that you do.

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