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Is this a Silicon Valley thing? People becoming far too attached with what their company is doing. Even if I had been working there for 5 years, I would never b

Is this a Silicon Valley thing? People becoming far too attached with what their company is doing. Even if I had been working there for 5 years, I would never bat an eye at anything my company did in it's own name -- I'm my own person and have my own beliefs, why should I expect a multinational enterprise to buckle to my feelings? If at any point I felt like my company was doing something that went morally against what I believe is right, then I would straight up leave. The thought that I'd get up and go to my manager to complain at how the executives could do something as atrocious as go against my moral compass sounds impossibly childish. Then, on top of that, virtually skipping work so I can complain even further, I'm surprised no one gets fired on the spot. I'm not concerned with whether or not this was sanctioned or expected, or if these people will lose their jobs or not, I just can't connect with this idea of assimilating my personal views into a corporation's identity.

flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago
>Is this a Silicon Valley thing? I think it's more a "I don't want my children to suffer through average 50C summer days" thing...
- michannne 7y ago
  It's very hot in Florida where I live, but I have 0 expectations that the company I work at could have any measurable impact on a global issue of this magnitude, and Amazon doesn't get much closer.
  - Pfhreak 7y ago
    Amazon definitely could. Silicon Valley, as a whole? Definitely absolutely could.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - gfisher 7y ago
    I disagree. If everybody held the opinion that their actions wouldn't amount to anything, nothing would ever change. Climate change is the single largest event that will occur in our lifetimes, and we all need to help pitch in to stop the raise in global temperatures.
- lopmotr 7y ago
  Do you have a reference for that 50C summer within the century or is it just made up? It's way higher than I've heard of unless they'll live in a place that's already getting almost that hot anyway - in which case they can obviously already cope so it doesn't matter.
avip 7y ago
>Is this a Silicon Valley thing? No. It's part of the planed 20/9 global CC strike, that was initiated by kids outside of US.
sincerely 7y ago
>Then, on top of that, virtually skipping work so I can complain even further, I'm surprised no one gets fired on the spot. I believe it would actually be illegal to fire employees for this. US employers generally cannot legally punish employees for striking.
- weka 7y ago
  But at-will states can word it so they were not fired for it. There would be many ways these employees can be dismissed and it would never be labelled for 'striking'.
- gtfratteus 7y ago
  They're not unionized so it wouldn't be an approved strike. They could very much get fired for this, and I expect most employees that take part will get fired.
Pfhreak 7y ago
A corporation's identity comes from someone's personal views. Many folks think that someone should be the workers at the company, rather than, say, the CEO or a PR dept. Many times one works for a company whose values partially align with theirs. Maybe they have good charitable work, or they are engaged with open source. But they also have things that you disagree with -- maybe they don't treat their workers well in some way or another, maybe their parental leave policy is poor. So, you try to change the company as step one -- let's get a better parental leave policy! Then, if you aren't getting traction, and your labor is valuable, you have leverage and can continue to try and invoke change. If change still won't happen, then you can walk. It's better, I think, for people to provide a moral compass to the companies they work for, then to ignore it and hope that the behemoth will just make a good decision.
TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
When the options are a) leave and have no job, or b) leave and go to another company also doing little to mitigate climate change, people are looking for option c.
- beatgammit 7y ago
  Isn't option c to start a company that does what you believe in? A lot of social purpose companies seem to be doing pretty well these days. If you dislike fossil fuel companies, build one that obsoletes their business model (e.g. Tesla). If you dislike mining operations for employee mistreatment, start a company based on fair trade products (e.g. Fairphone). And if you care about these causes, support them with your wallet and evangelize them. People say these companies are too big to compete with, but they used to say the same thing when these companies are created. Feel free to strike, but remember you can also vote to your feet, your wallet, and your labor.
  - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
    Definitely a good strategy!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
What, then, is your comprehensive alternative? We probably, at this stage, need to approach this issue with a certainly level of moderated-panic, and attempt to address it on al lines across all levels. It stands to reason that if the general population can influence corporate decision making that might have a knock-on effect to cause companies to influence government decision making. I'd hazard a guess that Jeff Bezos ability to influence government policy far exceeds mine by orders of magnitude.
- michannne 7y ago
  >We probably, at this stage, need to approach this issue with a certainly level of moderated-panic, and attempt to address it on al lines across all levels. What does this mean? I have been hearing the terms "global warming" and "crisis" for almost 20 years now, yet it is almost always followed up with talk -- talk about how others could change their lifestyle choices, talk about how organizations can change how they function, talk about how we can talk even more to the right people. Very rarely have I ever seen a plan -- a formulated, step-by-step guide on what people or organizations must sacrifice in order to bring about a better future, and even less so people who actually act on that plan instead of simply reiterating it to anyone within earshot. I would absolutely not be surprised if this event, which some consider to be "necessary" on any level, does nothing to impact Amazon to change anything to improve the climate situation -- as far as they can see from my perspective, they see 900+ employees, some of whom are probably part-time and not getting paid anyways, with no actual plan of how global warming should be solved with respect to Amazon, but want to feel good for a time, feel as though they are making some level of actionable change on the world, until their time is over and they go back to work while they patiently wait for >one of the most innovative companies[0] to come up with a plan themselves. I've seen it time and time again, it solves nothing, achieves nothing. And I'd bet it all on black that this earns them nothing but contempt from their supervisors/managers. [0]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1joUIg5O5pRS_R2OqXoJzbuCXcQ0trL9ki8XO2aO0prg/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1joUIg5O5pRS_R2OqXoJzbuCX...
  - apacheCamel 7y ago
    You talk about talk in your opening paragraph, yet these people are actually trying to do something so I am not sure why you are so against it? It doesn't matter if they are part-time, full-time, janitor, Lead Designer, or the office coffee boy. Climate change affects them and they are trying to take action in getting Amazon to listen to them. They are doing much more than you and I discussing it on HN.
kylek 7y ago
I think I made a similar statement in regards to one of the Google walkouts. It's incredibly weak and childish. Quit and prove that money isn't your true god if you actually believe it matters.
sp332 7y ago
Probably you're just not giving yourself enough credit. Your employer probably prefers for you to work for them instead of quitting. A strike is basically a negotiation tactic and the company can make a counter-offer. You can negotiate all kinds of things as conditions of your employment, especially together with your co-workers.
jjulius 7y ago
>Is this a Silicon Valley thing? People becoming far too attached with what their company is doing. Given the severity and near-certainty of climate change, it makes sense to try and drive multinational enterprises to do better. Should they just instead give up and go, "Eh, fuck the planet up, whatever"? Do you have a better alternative for driving large entities to make a positive change?
pretendscholar 7y ago
If you believe that climate change poses an existential risk then it isn't just a view that you may hold. The actions of your company along this front would represent a threat to your health and safety. You would be suicidal in a sense to not try to use your leverage (striking) to change the policy of the company. Maybe they can replace one person but replacing 900 people would be a huge disadvantage.
- michannne 7y ago
  Belief that climate change is inevitable is not just a view, no, but believing that my company can do anything within it's power to have positive enough effect on climate change that is anywhere near noticeable on anyone that doesn't know what my company is doing, is. If I'm looking to blame someone for the effects of global warming on my health, my employer is last on my list.
  - pretendscholar 7y ago
    Well if you worked for a monopsonistic giant like amazon the calculus changes a bit.

flyGuyOnTheSly 7y ago

>Is this a Silicon Valley thing? I think it's more a "I don't want my children to suffer through average 50C summer days" thing...

michannne 7y ago
It's very hot in Florida where I live, but I have 0 expectations that the company I work at could have any measurable impact on a global issue of this magnitude, and Amazon doesn't get much closer.
- Pfhreak 7y ago
  Amazon definitely could. Silicon Valley, as a whole? Definitely absolutely could.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- gfisher 7y ago
  I disagree. If everybody held the opinion that their actions wouldn't amount to anything, nothing would ever change. Climate change is the single largest event that will occur in our lifetimes, and we all need to help pitch in to stop the raise in global temperatures.
lopmotr 7y ago
Do you have a reference for that 50C summer within the century or is it just made up? It's way higher than I've heard of unless they'll live in a place that's already getting almost that hot anyway - in which case they can obviously already cope so it doesn't matter.

avip 7y ago

>Is this a Silicon Valley thing? No. It's part of the planed 20/9 global CC strike, that was initiated by kids outside of US.

sincerely 7y ago

>Then, on top of that, virtually skipping work so I can complain even further, I'm surprised no one gets fired on the spot. I believe it would actually be illegal to fire employees for this. US employers generally cannot legally punish employees for striking.

weka 7y ago
But at-will states can word it so they were not fired for it. There would be many ways these employees can be dismissed and it would never be labelled for 'striking'.
gtfratteus 7y ago
They're not unionized so it wouldn't be an approved strike. They could very much get fired for this, and I expect most employees that take part will get fired.

Pfhreak 7y ago

A corporation's identity comes from someone's personal views. Many folks think that someone should be the workers at the company, rather than, say, the CEO or a PR dept. Many times one works for a company whose values partially align with theirs. Maybe they have good charitable work, or they are engaged with open source. But they also have things that you disagree with -- maybe they don't treat their workers well in some way or another, maybe their parental leave policy is poor. So, you try to change the company as step one -- let's get a better parental leave policy! Then, if you aren't getting traction, and your labor is valuable, you have leverage and can continue to try and invoke change. If change still won't happen, then you can walk. It's better, I think, for people to provide a moral compass to the companies they work for, then to ignore it and hope that the behemoth will just make a good decision.

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago

When the options are a) leave and have no job, or b) leave and go to another company also doing little to mitigate climate change, people are looking for option c.

beatgammit 7y ago
Isn't option c to start a company that does what you believe in? A lot of social purpose companies seem to be doing pretty well these days. If you dislike fossil fuel companies, build one that obsoletes their business model (e.g. Tesla). If you dislike mining operations for employee mistreatment, start a company based on fair trade products (e.g. Fairphone). And if you care about these causes, support them with your wallet and evangelize them. People say these companies are too big to compete with, but they used to say the same thing when these companies are created. Feel free to strike, but remember you can also vote to your feet, your wallet, and your labor.
- TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
  Definitely a good strategy!

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago

What, then, is your comprehensive alternative? We probably, at this stage, need to approach this issue with a certainly level of moderated-panic, and attempt to address it on al lines across all levels. It stands to reason that if the general population can influence corporate decision making that might have a knock-on effect to cause companies to influence government decision making. I'd hazard a guess that Jeff Bezos ability to influence government policy far exceeds mine by orders of magnitude.

michannne 7y ago
>We probably, at this stage, need to approach this issue with a certainly level of moderated-panic, and attempt to address it on al lines across all levels. What does this mean? I have been hearing the terms "global warming" and "crisis" for almost 20 years now, yet it is almost always followed up with talk -- talk about how others could change their lifestyle choices, talk about how organizations can change how they function, talk about how we can talk even more to the right people. Very rarely have I ever seen a plan -- a formulated, step-by-step guide on what people or organizations must sacrifice in order to bring about a better future, and even less so people who actually act on that plan instead of simply reiterating it to anyone within earshot. I would absolutely not be surprised if this event, which some consider to be "necessary" on any level, does nothing to impact Amazon to change anything to improve the climate situation -- as far as they can see from my perspective, they see 900+ employees, some of whom are probably part-time and not getting paid anyways, with no actual plan of how global warming should be solved with respect to Amazon, but want to feel good for a time, feel as though they are making some level of actionable change on the world, until their time is over and they go back to work while they patiently wait for >one of the most innovative companies[0] to come up with a plan themselves. I've seen it time and time again, it solves nothing, achieves nothing. And I'd bet it all on black that this earns them nothing but contempt from their supervisors/managers. [0]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1joUIg5O5pRS_R2OqXoJzbuCXcQ0trL9ki8XO2aO0prg/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1joUIg5O5pRS_R2OqXoJzbuCX...
- apacheCamel 7y ago
  You talk about talk in your opening paragraph, yet these people are actually trying to do something so I am not sure why you are so against it? It doesn't matter if they are part-time, full-time, janitor, Lead Designer, or the office coffee boy. Climate change affects them and they are trying to take action in getting Amazon to listen to them. They are doing much more than you and I discussing it on HN.

kylek 7y ago

I think I made a similar statement in regards to one of the Google walkouts. It's incredibly weak and childish. Quit and prove that money isn't your true god if you actually believe it matters.

sp332 7y ago

Probably you're just not giving yourself enough credit. Your employer probably prefers for you to work for them instead of quitting. A strike is basically a negotiation tactic and the company can make a counter-offer. You can negotiate all kinds of things as conditions of your employment, especially together with your co-workers.

jjulius 7y ago

>Is this a Silicon Valley thing? People becoming far too attached with what their company is doing. Given the severity and near-certainty of climate change, it makes sense to try and drive multinational enterprises to do better. Should they just instead give up and go, "Eh, fuck the planet up, whatever"? Do you have a better alternative for driving large entities to make a positive change?

pretendscholar 7y ago

If you believe that climate change poses an existential risk then it isn't just a view that you may hold. The actions of your company along this front would represent a threat to your health and safety. You would be suicidal in a sense to not try to use your leverage (striking) to change the policy of the company. Maybe they can replace one person but replacing 900 people would be a huge disadvantage.

michannne 7y ago
Belief that climate change is inevitable is not just a view, no, but believing that my company can do anything within it's power to have positive enough effect on climate change that is anywhere near noticeable on anyone that doesn't know what my company is doing, is. If I'm looking to blame someone for the effects of global warming on my health, my employer is last on my list.
- pretendscholar 7y ago
  Well if you worked for a monopsonistic giant like amazon the calculus changes a bit.