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Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

seattletimes.com

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Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#71

Post by Madmallard »

beoberha wrote: post #50
Madmallard wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With return to office it's nowhere near enough on the west coast. Unless you hold a top position at a large corporation on the west coast you don't even have enough money to buy a house. Considering you're helping generate billions in revenue yeah, I'd say you should be being paid more.

This isn’t true at all and paints a dangerously dystopian view of things. You could easily buy a home in Seattle or the neighboring area after 5 years of senior level employment at most publicly traded companies. It’s not going to be an amazing home and there certainly will be some sticker shock when comparing that price tag to most other cities, but it’s totally feasible. The idea that you need to have a “top positi…

5 years at senior level means 8 plus years in industry and you actually have to be promoted to seniority and it has to be at a company that actually pays well. It is far beyond reasonable considering the value that developers provide.

So yeah, I think you're completely wrong.

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#72

Post by ok_dad »

idlewords wrote: post #13

The danger of any walkout is that you won't be allowed to walk back in. The time for useful collective action was back when tech companies couldn't hire fast enough, and tech employees enjoyed unusual leverage. After 27,000 layoffs, a performative walkout without a defined goal is just making it easier for Amazon management as they plan the next round of cuts.

Yea they know that. Even in the face of that they are walking out. Must mean they’re seriously pissed off. I would be more worried if I were the employer depending on this office and I would be trying to make these people happy so all my projects wouldn’t go into the shit bin for several months while I tried to rebuild my team.

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#73

Post by Madmallard »

beoberha wrote: post #51
Madmallard wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know probably a dozen devs that I regularly talk to from school and the only ones with their own homes have been seniors or higher positions for half a decade or longer.

I bought a million dollar home in Seattle after less than 5 years of employment out of college at a publicly traded non-FAANG company in the area. It’s doable, you just need to compromise on location or luxury

Definitely the exception to the rule

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#74

Post by monero-xmr »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #42
monero-xmr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Or you unionize. It’s federally protected activity. Only takes 30% to petition the NLRB to hold a vote. I know, the horror of suggesting such an idea on a hyper capitalism forum. Most people aren’t business owners or shareholders, they are workers. The startup lottery is a lottery: you likely will see nothing as an employee. You might not even see market rate as an employee at an established business. And there is am…

Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's a good thing. It's up for debate.

I think the right to own and carry concealed guns is a great thing, and totally legal in (most of) the USA, but many disagree with me. Legal != good.

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#75

Post by mc32 »

TheSoftwareGuy wrote: post #65
charcircuit wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software developers lose due to increased competition. Instead of competing with just silicon valley you are competing with the entire world.

But you also gain access to more employers

…if you’re willing to work for foreign wages…

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#76

Post by toomuchtodo »

monero-xmr wrote: post #74
toomuchtodo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you unionize. It’s federally protected activity. Only takes 30% to petition the NLRB to hold a vote. I know, the horror of suggesting such an idea on a hyper capitalism forum. Most people aren’t business owners or shareholders, they are workers. The startup lottery is a lottery: you likely will see nothing as an employee. You might not even see market rate as an employee at an established business. And there is am…

Just because it's legal, doesn't mean it's a good thing. It's up for debate. I think the right to own and carry concealed guns is a great thing, and totally legal in (most of) the USA, but many disagree with me. Legal != good.

Ahh, but that’s because you’re a business owner whose solution is “go work somewhere else if you don’t like the terms.” Workers have few options, so they must lean into those legally available to them. That’s democracy working.

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#77

Post by ok_dad »

coin wrote: post #15
mbgerring wrote: post #10

This is long overdue. It is well past time for tech workers to organize and demand a larger share of the billions in wealth we’ve generated for the VCs and CEOs.

Getting FAANG salary isn’t enough?

No, we shouldn’t even have to work for nice scraps, they’re still scraps.

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#78

Post by qwerpy »

Madmallard wrote: post #33
ghiculescu wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only homeowners in CA, OR, and WA are top executives at large corporations?

I know probably a dozen devs that I regularly talk to from school and the only ones with their own homes have been seniors or higher positions for half a decade or longer.

I've been in the Seattle area since graduating and hung out with people in both the tech industry and in aerospace (Boeing, etc.). Everyone who wanted a house had one within 5 years of starting work. They were smaller, older houses in trendy neighborhoods or nicer houses in further out suburbs, depending on the person's preferences. Seemed a reasonable result for young adults in their late 20s.

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#79

Post by pretendgeneer »

idlewords wrote: post #13

The danger of any walkout is that you won't be allowed to walk back in. The time for useful collective action was back when tech companies couldn't hire fast enough, and tech employees enjoyed unusual leverage. After 27,000 layoffs, a performative walkout without a defined goal is just making it easier for Amazon management as they plan the next round of cuts.

Funny how now is never the right time. It's always just gone or some time soon.

Re: Seattle Amazon workers plan walkout over return to office, layoffs

#80

Post by mc32 »

idlewords wrote: post #70
btbuildem wrote: post #18

Wow, the pro-corp tone in some of the comments is surprising. Software jobs are one of the few remaining ones where we still hold the means of production -- and can withhold them to our leverage. These folks are walking out for the right reasons -- big f-off to RTO, and even if a bit late, the layoffs.

Walking out to protest multiple rounds of layoffs may not be the power move you imagine.

To quote a somewhat polarizing politician, what difference, at this point, does it make?

But yeah, not the greatest timing…

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