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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”

#171

Post by Firmwarrior »

grapeskin wrote: post #157
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…

The scariest thing isn't that Amazon is a company worth nearly trillions and using that money to oppress workers to maintain their lead. It's that tech workers are happily applying to get a decent paycheck and crushing people under them, just to protect the company's billions. Then they'll post online about how happy they are to have been smart enough to save up to buy a lakefront home and retire at 45, and say peopl…

I wouldn't say that coders as an industry are destroying the road behind us, since there isn't really a road between "warehouse worker" and "software engineer", unless someone has the knack for coding (in which case there's a very clear and well-paved road within the company between those roles)

I think the best solution is to empower workers via unions or whatever else. It should be impossible for workers to get ground into dust by companies the way they do now.

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

#172

Post by sitkack »

dh2022 wrote: post #143
calvinmorrison wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends how badly you need that dollar.

I worked lots of minimum wage jobs. None of my co-workers would have peed in bottles / shit in bags / stress themselves out for 1 more dollar / hour. Me neither.

Times change. That was you then, not you now or your coworkers now.

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

#173

Post by ars »

Aunche wrote: post #152
ars wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a reply to both you and the person above you. There aren't building codes that can stop a tornado, not unless you want military style bunkers everywhere. Tornado's have approx double the windspeed of hurricanes. In tornado prone places life doesn't stop when there is danger nearby. Instead people go to the safest place they can, knowing it can only help for glancing blows, or weak tornado's. I quote: "Thus, t…

My point is that employers in tornado prone areas should have sections of the building that are sufficiently safe from tornados. As far, as I can tell, Amazon was following the rules, but labor activists are blaming Amazon for doing say, saying instead that they should have let them leave.

They did have a shelter area. It wasn't enough, most can't survive a direct hit, it's just a fact of life in that area.

And if you leave every time there a tornado in the area you don't work for many months of the year. Instead you go to the shelter when it's very close, which is what they did (10 to 15 minutes before).

Don't listen to activists, they usually aren't interested in the employees, rather they just want to criticize the "external enemy". Offtopic but I've noticed most "environmentalists" are the same way, they aren't interested in improving the environment, rather they are just misanthropes.

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

#174

Post by grapeskin »

Firmwarrior wrote: post #171
grapeskin wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The scariest thing isn't that Amazon is a company worth nearly trillions and using that money to oppress workers to maintain their lead. It's that tech workers are happily applying to get a decent paycheck and crushing people under them, just to protect the company's billions. Then they'll post online about how happy they are to have been smart enough to save up to buy a lakefront home and retire at 45, and say peopl…

I wouldn't say that coders as an industry are destroying the road behind us, since there isn't really a road between "warehouse worker" and "software engineer", unless someone has the knack for coding (in which case there's a very clear and well-paved road within the company between those roles) I think the best solution is to empower workers via unions or whatever else. It should be impossible for workers to get gro…

Massive salaries for programmers won’t last forever. Most people here on HN are self-taught; it’s a skill a large number of motivated people can pick up.

Eventually, large corporations will feel comfortable lowering wages once they have a secure grip on the market, and the tools programmers today made will be used against the next generation. It’s no different from millennials resenting boomers for burning economic bridges behind them with outsourcing and so on just to save a few dollars on costs and pull in higher wages for themselves.

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

#175

Post by Lamad123 »

FinNerd wrote: post #59
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…

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.

Let them eat foie gras

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

#176

Post by ars »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #126
ars wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a reply to both you and the person above you. There aren't building codes that can stop a tornado, not unless you want military style bunkers everywhere. Tornado's have approx double the windspeed of hurricanes. In tornado prone places life doesn't stop when there is danger nearby. Instead people go to the safest place they can, knowing it can only help for glancing blows, or weak tornado's. I quote: "Thus, t…

Nobody suggested making an amazon warehouse tornado-proof? You don't build a house to be tornado-proof. You have a tornado shelter. You build it at ground level with sloped sides, or below ground. Cargo ships have life boats, so do oil rigs. If you've got a warehouse with hundreds of people in an area with lots of tornadoes, you build tornado shelters sufficient to accommodate them. Cost of doing business in an area…

Sigh. There WAS a tornado shelter. And they went there. But tornado shelters can't survive direct hits (which are rare).

Are you interested in the facts of the case, or just criticizing anything and everything?

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

#177

Post by avs733 »

Firmwarrior wrote: post #171
grapeskin wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The scariest thing isn't that Amazon is a company worth nearly trillions and using that money to oppress workers to maintain their lead. It's that tech workers are happily applying to get a decent paycheck and crushing people under them, just to protect the company's billions. Then they'll post online about how happy they are to have been smart enough to save up to buy a lakefront home and retire at 45, and say peopl…

I wouldn't say that coders as an industry are destroying the road behind us, since there isn't really a road between "warehouse worker" and "software engineer", unless someone has the knack for coding (in which case there's a very clear and well-paved road within the company between those roles) I think the best solution is to empower workers via unions or whatever else. It should be impossible for workers to get gro…

>I wouldn't say that coders as an industry are destroying the road behind us

What worries me more than it happening is how many seem to either be blind or proud that they are.

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

#178

Post by chii »

grapeskin wrote: post #174
Firmwarrior wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't say that coders as an industry are destroying the road behind us, since there isn't really a road between "warehouse worker" and "software engineer", unless someone has the knack for coding (in which case there's a very clear and well-paved road within the company between those roles) I think the best solution is to empower workers via unions or whatever else. It should be impossible for workers to get gro…

Massive salaries for programmers won’t last forever. Most people here on HN are self-taught; it’s a skill a large number of motivated people can pick up. Eventually, large corporations will feel comfortable lowering wages once they have a secure grip on the market, and the tools programmers today made will be used against the next generation. It’s no different from millennials resenting boomers for burning economic b…

> feel comfortable lowering wages once they have a secure grip on the market

unless amazon is a monopoly employer, this isn't gonna happen. Or they can collude with other employers to lower wages (or indirectly, like no-poaching policy, or do what google+apple did with their wage collusion).

And if programming is valuable, why wouldn't these "low paid" programmers quit and take their skills elsewhere, including starting their own business selling their output?

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

#179

Post by makapuf »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #158
mannykannot wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hoping - and expecting - Amazon workers will game, euphemize, parody, ridicule and covertly subvert this clueless attempt at coercive social engineering for as long as Amazon thinks it is a good idea.

Amazonian182829: I'd like see us more together . That way we could get more of what we're looking for . Still be hard, but not like django working .

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