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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”

#321

Post by Jiejeing »

thelucky41 wrote: post #160
KennyBlanken wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if Amazon is trying to set up a distribution center in your state, county, or town: fight it. At the very least insist on language that prohibits any sort of corporate welfare. No tax breaks, no free infrastructure. Bezos is the richest man in the world; he can afford to run a new sewer or water main to his big fancy warehouses, instead of making a county's worth of low-income blue-collar folks pay for it. He can…

If the next town over does not follow this strategy, you will quickly find yourself in a diminished community with less public services and available jobs.

If has been shown that opening an amazon warehouse in a location actually destroys more job than it creates.

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

#322

Post by r_singh »

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…

> ….real solution is to simply not work for them

And as hard as it may be, choose to buy from them

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

#323

Post by bigDinosaur »

heavyset_go wrote: post #292
krageon wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument is that people are not lazy or ethically incompetent, but rather just straight up evil. Is that a fair characterisation? If so, I don't find it compelling.

This is Hannah Arendt's thesis behind "the banality of evil"[1]: > Arendt found Eichmann an ordinary, rather bland, bureaucrat, who in her words, was ‘neither perverted nor sadistic’, but ‘terrifyingly normal’. He acted without any motive other than to diligently advance his career. Eichmann was not an amoral monster, she concluded in her study of the case. Instead, he performed evil deeds without evil intentions, a…

I think it's a compelling critique of Arendt that she basically just bought this characterisation wholesale - the Nazis had every reason to present their actions as 'banal' both in limiting the damages selfishly at an individual level and also limiting the damage to their ideology ('anyone could do it'). Eichmann was probably not the nazi-punchcard, mindlessly executing horrible plans, that she states.

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

#324

Post by Timwi »

CryptoPunk wrote: post #269
cycomanic wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That can be argued for pretty much any government activity. So by your logic lets abolish police, firefighters, the army. Why can't I choose my own police to protect me? That's a blatant violation of my contract liberty!! P.S.: The US big three automakers went down because of complete management failure. They continued to build cars that nobody outside the US wants (seriously go to any other western nation and look h…

>>That can be argued for pretty much any government activity. So by your logic lets abolish police, firefighters, the army. Why can't I choose my own police to protect me? That's a blatant violation of my contract liberty!! I am not against government. The US had a government, with police, firefighters, an army and roads, in 1890, and no labor regulations that violated the freedom to contract, because during the Loch…

Try to see it from the other side. The side where “contract liberty” is just a buzzword, and the real situation of real people in real life is horrendous and sickening. No amount of philosophical maneuvering is going to stop us criticizing (real and substantive) abuse and mistreatment of fellow human beings.

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

#325

Post by GuB-42 »

"union" is banned? It may be a problem when discussing SQL queries.

Other terms from the article that can be used in technical discussions: "master", "slave", "robots", "accessibility". Special mention for "fire", which is an Amazon product.

Anyways, Amazon denies it, and I tend to believe them for that reason.

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

#326

Post by mekkkkkk »

heavyset_go wrote: post #292
krageon wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your argument is that people are not lazy or ethically incompetent, but rather just straight up evil. Is that a fair characterisation? If so, I don't find it compelling.

This is Hannah Arendt's thesis behind "the banality of evil"[1]: > Arendt found Eichmann an ordinary, rather bland, bureaucrat, who in her words, was ‘neither perverted nor sadistic’, but ‘terrifyingly normal’. He acted without any motive other than to diligently advance his career. Eichmann was not an amoral monster, she concluded in her study of the case. Instead, he performed evil deeds without evil intentions, a…

Sometimes it feels like people are confused about the nature of themselves. We have this idealized version of ethics and rationality that maps poorly onto reality. Yet everybody (especially on social media) talks as if this idealized version is the obvious natural state of all humans.

Our intellect as a species is a blessing and a curse. We are self aware, but only to a certain extent. The blanks are filled in by wishful thinking and hopelessly logical rationalizations.

It's fine and serves its purpose well as something to strive for. But it significantly hampers our ability to understand and empathize toward those that for whatever reason goes against the ideal.

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

#327

Post by sph »

GuB-42 wrote: post #325

"union" is banned? It may be a problem when discussing SQL queries. Other terms from the article that can be used in technical discussions: "master", "slave", "robots", "accessibility". Special mention for "fire", which is an Amazon product. Anyways, Amazon denies it, and I tend to believe them for that reason.

Is this an attempt at satire? The Amazon warehouse workers are not the ones discussing SQL queries or master/slave protocols.

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

#328

Post by bluescrn »

thumbsup-_- wrote: post #221

All they need is to agree to use "onion", "praise" and so. So much bad press for something that can be worked around so easily

There's also a ton of unicode characters that'd probably pass straight through the filter. Something like "ʯƞﺂơƞ"

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

#329

Post by sph »

Lapsa wrote: post #320

amazon is lame. wanted to order a book - faced some never ending "prove you are you to login" bullshit. very customer friendly except for one thing

Yes, Amazon is lame because you weren't able to login, certainly not because of the worker abuse mentioned in this very post.

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

#330

Post by kevingadd »

edmundsauto wrote: post #231
kevingadd wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

How does an article about lifting allowed working hours for teenagers in a fast food joint equate to children working in coal mines?

Fast food joints are not safe. You can get seriously injured working a fryer or grill, and a 16 year old is less likely to be able to operate those things safely. Keep in mind also that a 16 year old is almost certainly going to school, so they will be working while already tired.

I say this as someone who started working at age 14: Children should not be allowed to work most jobs until they are much older than that.

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