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Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

theintercept.com

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Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#91

Post by arcticbull »

ars wrote: post #84
uncomputation wrote: post #49

> 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…

> working their employees to death (literally in the case of the tornado) According to people who live in the area this isn't true. Amazon's response to the tornado was what everyone in that area does.

Well if thats the case then a lot of places are working employees to death and should all stop. Amazon clearly has the budget to look after its employees. Noblesse oblige and whatnot.

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#92

Post by bo1024 »

kelseyfrog wrote: post #75
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Go further. Employees with Neuralink devices can get $10/month in amazon store credit if they turn on thought monitoring. Thought monitoring will collect keywords like "union", "pay raise", and "slavery labor" to enable precise employee interventions. Breaching the employee guidelines is a serious offense and repeated violations can result in termination. Employees can always find another job after all. :)

You don't even need to go further, just go sideways. Consider the difficulty of Uber or Lyft drivers organizing together. They don't know each other and can't easily interact at work or via work, unless the company chooses to provide a communiction platform.

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#94

Post by [deleted] »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #85
heavyset_go wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Negotiations exist between two parties in a contractual relationship. Employment isn't a take it or leave it deal, it's give and take between two parties where terms of employment are decided by negotiations between both of them.

You mean like how I freely negotiate and accept the contract that describes CPUs backdoors (Intel Management Engine) in one of two computer CPU manufacturers in the world?

[deleted]

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#95

Post by notch656a »

uncomputation wrote: post #73
FinNerd wrote: post #59

Earlier 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.

Say you’re a father. You need to support your family, and there’s an Amazon Fulfillment Center in town. It pays a whole dollar an hour better than the local fruit packing warehouse, which is a huge difference. Amazon is providing me a valuable opportunity! Except now, I’m working myself to the bone trying to fulfill my package counts, peeing in bottles, shitting in bags, constantly stressed about if I can not only me…

Even as a homeless person showing up with drug addicts while waking up from a ditch, I found opportunities less demeaning than Amazon. If my only option was truly amazon, as a father, I would send my family to go live in the 3rd world and remit enough for them to live on while I live under a tarp rather than work full time at amazon again.

Amazon is 10% of retail and retail is only a slice of the economy. If you can't find an alternative to amazon, you aren't looking.

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#96

Post by eftychis »

uncomputation wrote: post #73
FinNerd wrote: post #59

Earlier 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.

Say you’re a father. You need to support your family, and there’s an Amazon Fulfillment Center in town. It pays a whole dollar an hour better than the local fruit packing warehouse, which is a huge difference. Amazon is providing me a valuable opportunity! Except now, I’m working myself to the bone trying to fulfill my package counts, peeing in bottles, shitting in bags, constantly stressed about if I can not only me…

These working conditions should simply be illegal in the U.S. (and the countries it is not already). There is no way around that. If society doesn't demand that then good luck to all of us. I am simply surprised again and again people haven't "broken" and keep putting up with this.

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#97

Post by weezin »

arcticbull wrote: post #91
ars wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> working their employees to death (literally in the case of the tornado) According to people who live in the area this isn't true. Amazon's response to the tornado was what everyone in that area does.

Well if thats the case then a lot of places are working employees to death and should all stop. Amazon clearly has the budget to look after its employees. Noblesse oblige and whatnot.

The amount of people that don't know what you are suppose to do during a tornado is mind boggling...

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#98

Post by jasd »

mdorazio wrote: post #86
_dain_ wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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?

> why doesn't amazon just respect its worker's basic human dignity? Because that directly conflicts with making the highest profit possible (still legally). What’s sad in these discussions is that it’s both true that Amazon is a terrible employer and that it often pays more than alternatives for many workers. This seems like a failure of policy (ex. Enforcing living wage standards) and American business well-being at…

I don't understand why we expect Amazon to do the right thing vs we should expect in this case all retailers to do the right thing? Unfortunately as consumers we are always looking for the best deal or the lowest price on everything. Which means retailers need to cut costs every way possible which in turn leads to sucking every ounce out of workers.

Let's assume that Amazon did end up making things way better for their workers. That means higher costs and hence higher prices. This will allow other retailers to win markets by setting the best prices.

I think we need regulation that applies to all retailers in this case or all industries that hire manual labor vs constantly targeting Amazon for being the bad guy.

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#99

Post by kevingadd »

edmundsauto wrote: post #69
ClumsyPilot wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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".

> We aren't going to make children work in mines

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2021/nov/02/child-labor-laws...

Are you sure about that? Absolutely certain?

Re: Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor”

#100

Post by randmeerkat »

uncomputation wrote: post #49

> 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…

If you still have a prime membership this is a great time to cancel it.
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