Amazon worker chat app to ban words such as “union”, “pay raise”, “slave labor” • Hacker News Board

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

#471

Post by AlexandrB » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 1:17 AM UTC

jasd wrote: post #98

mdorazio wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why doesn't amazon just respect its worker's basic human dignity? Because that directly conflicts with making the highest profit possible (still legally). What’s sad in these discussions is that it’s both true that Amazon is a terrible employer and that it often pays more than alternatives for many workers. This seems like a failure of policy (ex. Enforcing living wage standards) and American business well-being at…

I don't understand why we expect Amazon to do the right thing vs we should expect in this case all retailers to do the right thing? Unfortunately as consumers we are always looking for the best deal or the lowest price on everything. Which means retailers need to cut costs every way possible which in turn leads to sucking every ounce out of workers. Let's assume that Amazon did end up making things way better for the…

It's funny that this logic is rarely applied to executive compensation or stock buybacks. Apparently it only hurts competitiveness to increase wages for the low-level workers. Any of the other ways that money gets wasted in a major retail corporation is fine.

And then there are the counterexamples, like Costco, that manage to pay well and be wildly competitive.

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

#472

Post by TeeMassive » Fri, Apr 08, 2022, 2:06 AM UTC

hotpotamus wrote: post #62

TeeMassive wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can do things that's within the law. Recording conversations have been considered harassment in the past. Blocking vocabulary related to unionization could be considered blocking employee from self-organizing.

Well good for Amazon then that The Federalist Society has managed to install extremely right wing and anti-labor judges over the past few decades. If there's any leeway in the law for consideration, I can tell you which way that consideration will go. Not so good for society sadly.

> Well good for Amazon then that The Federalist Society has managed to install extremely right wing and anti-labor judges over the past few decades.

You need to stop to see the world in black and white. The Federalist Society is a corporatist / statist organization. They hate labor. They love big pharma, etc.

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

#473

Post by ineedasername » Sun, Apr 10, 2022, 2:14 AM UTC

ineedasername wrote: post #457

notch656a wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Appreciate the response. To answer your question >Is "better off [economically]" you're guide on ethical labor practices? No. But live in reality. I know people have to make hard decisions. If the choice is "Family starves to death" or "Child labor results in survival of family", I would never try to stop this family from having that opportunity to survive. Whether it is better to ban the job so the family starves to…

>No. But live in reality. I live there, grew up with a strong dose of it, but I take your point and understand. I'm not ideological on the issue except that I think we can do better, so a viewpoint rooted in (for me, cynical) practicality is easy for me to relate to. It's different than an ideological one, which is what was the question I was trying to understand from your statement. It's harder to have productive co…

I. The above, "love" should be "live"

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

#474

Post by sershe » Sun, Apr 10, 2022, 3:48 AM UTC

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…

As a tech worker who grew up in an ex-communist, then essentially 3rd world, country, I find calling $15/hour, 0-skill-required warehouse jobs "oppression" really laughable. American poor are quite a spoiled and entitled bunch. I don't work for Amazon but I would be quite consciously proud to. Upsetting the kind of people who use "oppress" non-ironically in a similar context is just an additional small perk :P

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

#475

Post by skinnymuch » Thu, Apr 14, 2022, 10:20 PM UTC

mdorazio wrote: post #154

lupire wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jeff Bezos's $200B says he's not paying the most he can while still surviving in business.

Let's do some math for fun. Amazon now employs about a million workers in the US. Let's naively assume 3/4 of them work in warehouses and delivery as opposed to corporate. Let's also assume they work, on average, 2000 hours a year (roughly full-time). For Amazon to raise those wages by $1/hr (or lower efficiency demands by ~7%) it would cost them around $1.5B every year. Now, you're probably thinking that's chump cha…

Amazon doesn’t lose money with what you’re saying. They are moving money around. We need to stop trusting wildly rich and powerful people and corporations so much.

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

#476

Post by skinnymuch » Thu, Apr 14, 2022, 10:21 PM UTC

lupire wrote: post #142

mdorazio wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why doesn't amazon just respect its worker's basic human dignity? Because that directly conflicts with making the highest profit possible (still legally). What’s sad in these discussions is that it’s both true that Amazon is a terrible employer and that it often pays more than alternatives for many workers. This seems like a failure of policy (ex. Enforcing living wage standards) and American business well-being at…

If Jeff Bezos wants to work his staff until their bodies break and delivery trucks crash, the least they can do is the same to his body. Eat the rich.

As a minimum wage McDonald’s cashier, I refuse to get a raise if that means any of my bosses up through corporate don’t get raises.