Of course. A software company trying to solve all of its problems through software.
Maybe Amazon should address why their employees feel they need to say these words in the first place.
Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
61–70 of 476 posts
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe it's just "corporation". Have you ever worked for a company that was run democratically? I've worked at good and bad places, but ultimately the orders came from the top. I don't think Amazon is very unique in their governance and attitude towards their workers, they're just more competent than most at execution.
They can do things that's within the law. Recording conversations have been considered harassment in the past. Blocking vocabulary related to unionization could be considered blocking employee from self-organizing.
Well good for Amazon then that The Federalist Society has managed to install extremely right wing and anti-labor judges over the past few decades. If there's any leeway in the law for consideration, I can tell you which way that consideration will go. Not so good for society sadly.
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apparently meaning: they were caught, so now they have to rethink it.
Yeah, this leak is about a brainstorming session. It was a stupid suggestion that apparently hasn’t seen the light of day.
Looks like it went further than just a brainstorming session, because a list of words and phrases to be blocked was assembled and this is what leaked. It isn't clear whether or not they would have proceeded if there hadn't been a leak.
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#64> The major goal of the program, Amazon’s head of worldwide consumer business, Dave Clark, said, was to reduce employee attrition by fostering happiness among workers — and also productivity. Shout-Outs would be part of a gamified rewards system in which employees are awarded virtual stars and badges for activities that “add direct business value,” documents state. At the meeting, Clark remarked that “some people are…
Why don’t their employees quit then and work somewhere better if they have the opportunity? If they don’t have a better opportunity than seems like Amazon is providing a valuable opportunity. Not to mention we seem to be in a worker-favorable economy.
> If they don’t have a better opportunity than seems like Amazon is providing a valuable opportunity.
So when are we letting children back in the coalmines?
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#65Pretty shameful for the programmers who implemented this.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was sold to programmers as a "dynamic block list" so they could respond to the changing landscape of slurs, and then execs decided to use that functionality to add these other words.
Which tangentially, is 100% why any Apple (Or other) engineer building "on device" CSAM scanner that is remotely update-able should think really hard...
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why would you use a work-provided chat app to discuss things the company may not like? For example, do you not expect your employer to know if you're browsing for another job over company provided Internet on company provided laptops? If they were spying on the guest Wifi, that's another thing.
Sometimes I wonder where these arguments will lead us if the the technology develops further... Why would you use work-provided air to transmit voice to discuss things the company may not like at the office? Don't you know they have smart microphones in the walls and use Active Noise Control to 'cancell' any words you say that they don't like? For example, do you not expect your employer to know if you are thinking a…
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Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#67Of course. A software company trying to solve all of its problems through software. Maybe Amazon should address why their employees feel they need to say these words in the first place.
They would format and factory reset their workers if they could
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#68Pretty shameful for the programmers who implemented this.
This is pure speculation, but I wouldn't even be surprised if didn't have any say in this. What likely happened is that higher ups proposed a new feature to ban certain words, likely phrased as a way to remove racist and/or derogatory words.
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why don’t their employees quit then and work somewhere better if they have the opportunity? If they don’t have a better opportunity than seems like Amazon is providing a valuable opportunity. Not to mention we seem to be in a worker-favorable economy.
> If they don’t have a better opportunity than seems like Amazon is providing a valuable opportunity. So when are we letting children back in the coalmines?
This is a terrible analogy and adds nothing to the conversation.
We aren't going to make children work in mines, because (as I'm sure you know), adult workers and children are not the same thing. There is a huge chasm between "adult workers making more than a lot of their other opportunities is slightly more cannot unionize as easily using Amazon services" and "put children back in coal mines".
Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”
#70> The major goal of the program, Amazon’s head of worldwide consumer business, Dave Clark, said, was to reduce employee attrition by fostering happiness among workers — and also productivity. Shout-Outs would be part of a gamified rewards system in which employees are awarded virtual stars and badges for activities that “add direct business value,” documents state. At the meeting, Clark remarked that “some people are…
Why don’t their employees quit then and work somewhere better if they have the opportunity? If they don’t have a better opportunity than seems like Amazon is providing a valuable opportunity. Not to mention we seem to be in a worker-favorable economy.
"just quit and get another job" -- this is frictionless-plane-in-a-vacuum thinking. people have all kinds of life circumstances that means they can't act like perfectly rational economic agents, especially when they are poor.
turn it around: why doesn't amazon just respect its worker's basic human dignity?