Workers Leaving the Googleplex • Hacker News Board

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#251

Post by yanw » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:20 PM UTC

There is a huuuuuuuuuuugly important distinction that has to be made here:

The “Book Scanners” are NOT Google employees!!!!!

They are the workers of a company that was hired by Google to do this monotonous physical labor, you know CONTRACT WORKERS!

That’s why they don’t get any rocket-ships made of chocolate Lego bricks or whatever perks Google employees get.

As for security getting involved that is procedure!! and exactly what happens when you go snooping around on company grounds.

This this whole post is nothing but sensationalist rambling and delusional nonsense.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#252

Post by alxv » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:21 PM UTC

imjk wrote: post #202

bane wrote: post #178

I don't think he understands how contractors work (Google didn't hire you you git, Google contracted your company and your company placed you there to fill the contract) or hourly labor works (you don't get privileges or benefits), so he turns it into a ridiculous conspiracy. Breaking news! Google has hourly employees! - You don't say?! Google has contractors! - Really?! Let's explore the narcissistic exploration of…

You need to relax a little there, Mr. Privileged Google Employee.

I don't think he is a Google employee. He is a Google aficionado perhaps, but likely not an employee.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#253

Post by marshray » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:23 PM UTC

jbooth wrote: post #209

marshray wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, so people who view the world differently than you do so because they've been brainwashed by the media and politics their whole life, whereas you are able to see through all of that and clearly perceive the unbiased truth. That must be a heavy burden for you to bear. But it's good to know you're around. I'll be sure to seek you out for my re-education next time I start to suspect I might have been co-opted.

Are you saying there hasn't been a significant anti-labor campaign the last 40 years? Take a look at attitudes towards American Labor in the 50s-60s and now. Big difference, right?

Are you saying there hasn't been a significant anti-labor campaign the last 40 years? Take a look at attitudes towards American Labor in the 50s-60s and now. Big difference, right?

Sure there's a difference, but I wouldn't attribute even half of that difference to some kind of vast propaganda campaign.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#254

Post by graywh » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:23 PM UTC

yanw wrote: post #251

There is a huuuuuuuuuuugly important distinction that has to be made here: The “Book Scanners” are NOT Google employees!!!!! They are the workers of a company that was hired by Google to do this monotonous physical labor, you know CONTRACT WORKERS! That’s why they don’t get any rocket-ships made of chocolate Lego bricks or whatever perks Google employees get. As for security getting involved that is procedure!! and e…

But the author himself was also a contract worker and he got more benefits than the yellow-badge workers.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#255

Post by sudhirj » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:24 PM UTC

illumen wrote: post #105

pstack wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As dangrossman points out, above, you can be fired for any reason whatsoever, on the spot. I believe the only protections are sex, race, gender, religion, and age. And as for sex, that means you can't be fired for being a male or a female. It has nothing to do with sexual orientation, for which you can still be fired in something like two or three dozen states. (Look into the ENDA which has been repeatedly proposed f…

This person was fired for pointing out systematic racism at google. If it is true that they have a separate building where the 'people of color' work segregated from the others, that is pretty outrageous. It really does say something about the corporate culture there. I hope it is investigated more closely by other parties, and that Google can make it better If there is something like this happening.

I'd be very surprised if the the building was filled with only 'people of color' but that's not really the point anyway. If you've bothered to actually do any research, you'll find that tons of 'people of color' who are brilliant engineers, lawyers and execs are everywhere in the company, including the top management. If more people of color apply for jobs that do not require high qualifications then that situation is a reflection of society, not some racist conspiracy a certain class of people.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#256

Post by yanw » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:26 PM UTC

graywh wrote: post #254

yanw wrote: post #251

There is a huuuuuuuuuuugly important distinction that has to be made here: The “Book Scanners” are NOT Google employees!!!!! They are the workers of a company that was hired by Google to do this monotonous physical labor, you know CONTRACT WORKERS! That’s why they don’t get any rocket-ships made of chocolate Lego bricks or whatever perks Google employees get. As for security getting involved that is procedure!! and e…

But the author himself was also a contract worker and he got more benefits than the yellow-badge workers.

Then his company got a better contract.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#257

Post by simon_weber » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:26 PM UTC

rmrm wrote: post #231

Seems to me there are two issues: 1.) Yellow badge worker treatment -- most of the comments here seem to accept his description of their work life (right or wrong) as fact, it is unsubstantiated to me. I see a video of people getting in their cars and going home, that is all. Considering he claims to have never spoken to any of them, except for a brief encounter before security grabbed him, it would seem even he is a…

I also fail to find the treatment of the yellow badge employees surprising or unreasonable. Just like you said, the only reason people find it interesting is because the yellow badges work next to employees with some of the most well known perks in the industry.

Why does this juxtaposition come about in the first place? It seems to me that the amount of effort an employer will want to go through to keep/attract a certain type of employee is proportional to how much effort they would have to expend to replace that employee. I would argue it is relatively more difficult to replace campus workers than ScanOps personnel (since campus workers are higher skilled and also must become acclimated to the campus on the terms of the employer, while ScanOps can just sign up and start scanning), Google doesn't expend the same effort to keep the employee. Nothing nefarious is at work; a large profitable company is trying to stay that way.

That being said, the reaction Google had does seem a bit over the top, but I would agree that this is mostly the fault of Andrew's tone.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#258

Post by yanw » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:28 PM UTC

allenbrunson wrote: post #229

yanw wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the author is clearly delusional. He doesn't seem to understand the difference between being an employee for a company that was hired by Google and being a Google employee and instead concocts this story about class warfare and injustice.

it would certainly have been possible for the comment author (bane) to have made that point without all the nasty name-calling.

The blog author made his fair share of 'nasty name-calling' as well (bordering on slander, really).

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#259

Post by marshray » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:31 PM UTC

trotsky wrote: post #207

marshray wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, so people who view the world differently than you do so because they've been brainwashed by the media and politics their whole life, whereas you are able to see through all of that and clearly perceive the unbiased truth. That must be a heavy burden for you to bear. But it's good to know you're around. I'll be sure to seek you out for my re-education next time I start to suspect I might have been co-opted.

We are asked to have opinions on far more things than we can possibly digest and reasonably evaluate ourselves. For this reason, we outsource most of our opinions to others we trust - our family, our teachers, our friends, the media, the state etc. This is the basis for propaganda, advertising, public relations and the like. The fact that repeated messaging on one side of an issue will shift public opinion in aggrega…

You generalized my generation and "many of the posters here on HN" as being "co-opted" and basically not thinking for ourselves.

This is the wrong board to go making that kind of assertion dude.

Re: Workers Leaving the Googleplex

#260

Post by billswift » Sat, Apr 30, 2011, 5:31 PM UTC

learc83 wrote: post #212

exit wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there's nothing voluntary about participation in capitalism.

So you want to change the scope of the argument to: all Google employees are plantation slave labor? Ask yourself this--if any plantation slaves were alive today, would they agree with your comparison?

No, he is attacking capitalism, he wants the World Soviet where we are all slaves of the, or at least of some, government.