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> the company’s lawyers urged the U.S. government to give companies more leeway to reign in rebellious employees from organizing over workplace email. I'm all
by username223 8y ago
> the company’s lawyers urged the U.S. government to give companies more leeway to reign in rebellious employees from organizing over workplace email.
I'm all for tech workers organizing (or dare I say "unionizing"), but it seems like a no-brainer to use non-work email. There are plenty of other free options, including Gmail. If Google retaliated against an employee for something they sent from a personal Gmail account, they would be in a whole lot more trouble.
- ocdtrekkie 8y agoIt's likely you're missing why they're using work email: It's a way to broadcast and promote the concerns to people who aren't already part of their organized action. From what I've read, there's an incredibly large number of not-work-related email lists internally at Google, they have somewhat of their own private little Internet world there. So "organizing" with their work email wasn't about "the organizers talking to each other", it was about getting people to join the Walkout.
- username223 8y agoYou're right, I was forgetting about how Google is its own internet world. The meat-space protections for labor organizers could reasonably apply to email lists, and sending a message to some internal list is easier than putting up flyers in the cafeterias. Still, internal not-work-related mailing lists seem like a bad idea for all involved. For an example that cut the other way, see jwz's "Bad Attitude" list at Netscape, which got subpoenaed by Microsoft: http://www.wired.com/1998/09/microsoft-subpoenas-bad-attitude/ http://www.wired.com/1998/09/microsoft-subpoenas-bad-attitud...