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> And if the employees placed thier [sic] values over profits, why are they still there? There is probably more than one kind of profit. I think that if you've
by theothermkn 8y ago
> And if the employees placed thier [sic] values over profits, why are they still there?
There is probably more than one kind of profit. I think that if you've got a mortgage on a SV condo or house, and made plans for your financial life based on your income without knowing what the company you work for was or would be up to, you may be in a pretty good position to say that it's okay for you to accept a salary as you protest the action or actions of the company. Not to mention, strikes or other means of civil (commercial) disobedience might have more of an impact than simply leaving. By placing the onus on Google to fire you, you have PR and legal leverage (wrongful termination, if your moves are careful (IANAL)) to change the situation, whereas if you leave, you just go quietly into that good night, and the situation is guaranteed to continue. Complicity isn't always a black and white matter.
> I wonder if they are going to refuse their stock based compensation?
Stock-based compensation, I imagine, is on a vesting schedule. The same discussion as above applies, except that some of that compensation represents value that may be notionally "clean," having been earned outside the scope of the bad acts, either temporally or organizationally. It also represents earned compensation. Finally, its refusal would only serve to enrich Google, the ostensible bad actor in this instance.
However, what sickens me most about the OP's drive-by rhetoric is its reflexive turn toward reactionary complacency. It seems to say that those without sin only are allowed to cast the first stone, but really universalizes something like original sin to justify complete complacency. Further, it ignores the power imbalance between employer and employee, and minimizes the bravery of those who are speaking and acting out against injustice. It's despicable.
- scarface74 8y agoHave you notice that when it comes to being “brave” and speaking out against moral wrongdoing in Silicon Valley, it’s always the highly compensated white collar workers? You never see factory workers at Amazon for instance protesting about Amazon’s government contracts. I bet you anything if people at Google who are protesting were really afraid of losing thier jobs, not as many would be protesting.
- Apocryphon 8y agoAmazon factory workers protest over their working conditions. Those who have more secure employment have the ability to protest over more abstract causes. There is nothing new here; many political reformers and revolutionaries have been from middle or upper classes, who possess the financial security and education to opine about high-minded causes. This is Maslow's hierarchy at work here.