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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”

#351

Post by kqr »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #106

Please keep in mind this is a rewards program text box, not a chat app. The program itself may be stupid, but I don't know any company that would allow these terms in internally visible recognition. My company uses manual review for recognition, but I would expect a call from my manager if I sent a public kudos "Great job fighting for union pay raises for the slave labor at our company"

While the whole idea of gameified communication is ridiculous, I really don't get your point.

If someone feels so strongly about the issue that they want to send someone a kudos using the specifi words "union pay raises for slave labour", that's definitely something I'd want to encourage as much as possible of, because it is a strong indication I'm doing something wrong as a leader.

You have to admit people won't use those words for fun in a professional environment. Those messages would be one of the most important signals uncovered by such a program.

I just don't get why you'd want to bury it.

----

Though reading my own comment, it's clearly selection bias: leaders who encourage workers' open discussion of slave-like conditions would never institute slave-like conditions, and vice versa, I suppose.

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

#353

Post by grapeskin »

robertlagrant wrote: post #335
grapeskin wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking a job that screws over workers below you is really just sticking a middle finger up to the world around you. A typical programming job is more than enough to provide for a family, a home, and early retirement. Burning down the next generation by empowering mega corporations just "for your kids" is the definition of selfish. Boomers did selfish things "for their kids" and now their kids are absolutely screwed w…

Don't be silly; it's not at the cost of the whole world. We are still in a pandemic where one of the biggest reasons people could isolate for as long as they did was big tech.

Quarantines have existed for a long time. Countries locked down for longer.

The most important thing holding the world together was the people out there risking infection to deliver things to people staying at home. The biggest difference between the 90s and 2020s is that people are doing it by pressing a button on their phone instead of pressing a button on their computer or making a call on their phone, and loads more people are working in the package delivery industry for low wages.

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

#354

Post by [deleted] »

ars wrote: post #113
Aunche wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You clearly have some preconceived grudge towards Amazon or any big employer. They didn't die because they were "working to death." They died because the building collapsed. They deserve scrutiny for that that, but so do the building codes.

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…

[deleted]

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

#356

Post by kqr »

jokoon wrote: post #331

I wish there could be some shopping platform that respects their employees even if my order takes 3 weeks to land.

Have you considered starting a co-op in this space? Something fully employee-owned, working for the benefit of themselves, their customers, and their communities.

I don't generally use Amazon so I don't know exactly what their selling points are, but surely there ought to be some way to compete?

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

#357

Post by goodpoint »

chii wrote: post #178
grapeskin wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 start…

> unless amazon is a monopoly employer, this isn't gonna happen

It's already happening. Various FAANGs have been found red handed signing anti-poaching agreements to lower salaries.

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

#358

Post by kqr »

alligatorplum wrote: post #68
lwansbrough wrote: post #41

Pretty shameful for the programmers who implemented this.

This is pure speculation, but I wouldn't even be surprised if didn't have any say in this. What likely happened is that higher ups proposed a new feature to ban certain words, likely phrased as a way to remove racist and/or derogatory words.

As a software engineer today, you always have a say in what work you perform with your own hands.

You might think a big enough paycheck compensates for an ethical infraction, but it's a decision you alone make.

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

#359

Post by devoutsalsa »

jimt1234 wrote: post #206

I administered Microsoft Exchange for "Evil Corp" back in the 90s. I was asked to install a filtering package that monitored emails for keywords (curse words). After collecting data for about a week, there was one clear conclusion: The worst offenders were in middle-management. Oh yeah, and I had to explain to some uptight HR director what a "MILF" is. Good times.

American Pie was a great movie.

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

#360

Post by goodpoint »

grapeskin wrote: post #280
josephg wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. Programming is really hard. The idea that anyone can "learn to code" is a work of fiction. Nobody says that anyone can learn to do surgery, become a fighter pilot or become a barrister. I couldn't do those jobs. And lots of people couldn't do my job. Telling people that effort is the only thing stopping them getting a 6 figure software engineering salary does real harm. Its notable that most people who say this…

I know people that transferred from psychology degrees to programming jobs strictly through being self taught and they're making just shy of six figures. I know people who got web development jobs right out of high school. Programming is infinitely easier to get into than any other high paying field. There's no standardized exam or certification board keeping people out. The problem is people need time to study it, a…

> Programming is infinitely easier to get into than any other high paying field

Being an average programmer is indeed easy compared to many skilled jobs. In some areas people are called "senior" after doing a 6-months bootcamp and landing a job copypasting stack overflow for 3 years.

Being a good software engineer is a different thing and takes endless learning.

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