Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns • Hacker News Board

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#121

Post by sokoloff » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 7:49 PM UTC

0815test wrote: post #78

Aunche wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure some companies can benefit from employee representation on the board, but I don't think Google is one of them. Google is possibly the cushiest company to work for in the entire world. I and I imagine most shareholders would rather Google spend more money on self-driving cars than solving every little grievance employees have.

> Google is possibly the cushiest company to work for in the entire world It has an enduring reputation for having been cushy in the past - and it might still feel cushy if you happen to mesh well with the prevailing company culture. But many people don't see it that way, apparently - to the point where they feel that their work itself is being impacted. And the way the whole Rubin story has been handled is also indi…

If an individual doesn’t mesh with the company culture, should the company change the culture or the employee change companies? I don’t mean to sound glib, but I don’t see any reason to think that every company should be a great fit for every employee.

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#122

Post by the-rc » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:01 PM UTC

dmitrygr wrote: post #92

the-rc wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, if you were employed before/during the 2014 split, you do have a mix of GOOG/GOOGL. Not that it ever made a difference in practical terms.

unless you had a very weird vesting schedule, your GOOGL long since vested (mine finished in '17)

Yeah, but did you sell them all?

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#123

Post by brighter2morrow » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:08 PM UTC

atklp wrote: post #112

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always entertaining when Silicon Valley companies learn that hundred-plus year companies have these stiff adult things called "rules" around for a reason. I can't imagine seriously engaging in significant political discussion at work, and can't imagine a positive outcome to it.

It's easy when you've made sure the entire company leans the same way though. It would be odd to be a right-winger and work in Google--knowing that they're doing everything they can to hurt me. But of course money is money and everybody has a price.

I'm a right-winger in a leftist workplace. The key is just to keep your head down whenever politics comes up, and never participate in discussion about controversial topics. Generally I would act the same in a right-leaning atmosphere if one ever existed anyway, but at least then I wouldn't hear my coworkers' rants.

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#124

Post by anonygler » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:11 PM UTC

These posts are being written/orchestrated by Meredith Whittaker, a self-appointed “AI Expert” with a degree in Rhetorics.

Claire, while she did amicable work organizing a walkout for employee conditions, also spent time participating in multiple, coordinated internal pressure campaigns that involved leaking confidential business plans.

For that reason, her leaving the company is for the best. Meredith should do the same, as she’s the protester-in-chief who’s arbitrarily turned a 20% project into her full time job. What other company allows or tolerates this?

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#125

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:13 PM UTC

eigenvector wrote: post #2

You can read Claire's reasons for leaving Google in her own words here: https://medium.com/@GoogleWalkout/why-a-googlewalkout-organi...

[deleted]

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#126

Post by sdinsn » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:18 PM UTC

busterarm wrote: post #54

Google also recently terminated the maintainer of the republicans@google list.

And what was the reasoning about that?

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#127

Post by anonygler » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:19 PM UTC

busterarm wrote: post #54

Google also recently terminated the maintainer of the republicans@google list.

Except that dude boasted about leaking internal conversations. That’s a firin’.

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#128

Post by itronitron » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:21 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #113

utopcell wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know what is more hilarious: the fact that you would pass judgement on a ~$1TN company based on the experience of a disgruntled employee [1], or that HR makes technical decisions in your company. [1] mind you, I feel Claire is honest in upholding her views and doesn't have an agenda.

1) In my company, IT is organized under HR. Also, in most companies, IT exists to implement the technical needs of the rest of the company, not to decide what tech the rest of the company uses. 2) I get to pass judgments on Google because I'm a customer and I'm voting with my wallet, and because in the nearly 2 decades that I've been a customer they've gone from being a bastion of idealism and representing the possib…

A big part of the problem is probably that the people that could force a change, the ones in power, view Google as an income stream for themselves, and since they have already accumulated a lot of personal wealth aren't particularly concerned with it slowly running out.

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#129

Post by CodiePetersen » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:27 PM UTC

jm4 wrote: post #89

heer4it wrote: post #3

These companies are so huge and such an integral part of society that they need to be made more accountable to the public, and forcing them to be more accountable to their workers is part of that. I think the recent proposal to require employee representation on the board of directors of $1B+ companies is a good start.

Public accountability is a slippery slope. How do you accomplish that? Legislation? New legislation pitched as a solution to a problem tends to be a rat's nest of rules that no one understands, that doesn't often have the intended impact, that can have unintended consequences, and, after some public shaming of the offender, lets them conduct business as usual. Not sure employee representation on the board is a soluti…

So I'm a moderate libertarian and the "don't tell them what to do, society's hidden hand will decide" is an argument used by libertarians frequently and one I disagree with. One, specifically for this case, the issue at hand doesn't affect the user's. Two being a global company, quitting at Google will just open a slot that they need to fill and they have plenty of people lining up for the job. So really any sort of grass roots effort wont work because there are plenty of people who don't give a shit about the employee woes.

Another problem is that Google has contracts with the government, which belongs to us, so actually we do have a say if our taxes directly fund them. Also there are many companies they have deals with or that use services of theirs, many of which we won't know of the partnership. You are essentially asking for a globally coordinated boycott. But their service is so fundamental that you will find few people giving up the products because they can't. I've had my Gmail account since Gmail came out as invite only when you had to send those links. Too many of my accounts are linked to it and too many people know that's a for sure thing to contact me by. Samsung runs on android and there are other companies and developers that have built businesses around android or Google services. You aren't going to see these companies or individuals, sad as it is, make the pivot away for moral reasons. In some cases sure it's just tedious and annoying, like mine, to change but in other cases it's too much of a cost and risk.

I think the easiest way as I have mentioned in other posts is to break Google up, and other too big to fail/drop tech companies as well. We do it with other types of companies but I think the problem is legislators consider all tech companies as equal competitors to one another. Just because I can make a search engine doesn't mean Google has meaningful competition. I say break them up and let real competition dictate what society wants from them.

Re: Google Walkout Organizer Claire Stapleton Resigns

#130

Post by Retra » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 8:31 PM UTC

joeblow9999 wrote: post #100

burkaman wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many, but one recent bill from Elizabeth Warren: > Empowers workers at United States corporations to elect at least 40% of Board members: Borrowing from the successful approach in Germany and other developed economies, a United States corporation must ensure that no fewer than 40% of its directors are selected by the corporation's employees. - https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren...

heavy-handed central planning at its finest. no one is forced to work at these companies and no one is forced to buy the stocks. if you don't like the way the company is run don't work there or invest. imagine the opposite heavy-handed intervention. what if it was proposed that companies are banned from allowing employees reps on the board...

Forcing people to commit murder is bad, therefore the opposite -- forcing people to not commit murder -- must be equally bad, because they are both forced.

This is not a strong argument.