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> After Amazon told them that they had violated its external communications policy by speaking publicly about the business, their group organized 400 employees

> After Amazon told them that they had violated its external communications policy by speaking publicly about the business, their group organized 400 employees to also speak out, purposely violating the policy to make a point. I get that Amazon and big tech hate posts are a daily thing on HN these days, but this seems simple enough to me. They broke Amazons policies and organized other employees to also break policy. If I was a business owner, I would have done the same thing. The most vocal crowd on the Amazon topic here on HN despise the company outright. I’m onboard with taxing big companies, etc, but it’s sad this stuff takes up the front page. The quality of discussion is the same as /r/politics or /r/worldnews.

wting 6y ago
Company policy cannot overrule laws, but it is not illegal to put it in a contract. Companies put in things they can't enforce because it has the same effect of discouraging certain behaviors. A company's policy cannot prohibit employees from talking about the company. Obviously there is more nuance (e.g. leaking internal info) but in this case we're discussing public events.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
door101 6y ago
> If I was a business owner, I would have done the same thing. But you're not. Why take the side of a class of people that you don't belong to that don't share your interests (owners) instead of the class you do belong to and do share your interests (workers)?
- tracer4201 6y ago
  I don’t think this is black and white between owners and workers. Corporate America is much more complicated. The owner and worker narrative sounds like communist take. I’m an American who values individualism and hard work. I fundamentally don’t believe in what you’re trying to say here. You don’t have to “own” a business to understand how to manage people. If someone had issues and they take those issues on to stop your entire business and halt productivity, you remove that person. It’s really that simple.
acuozzo 6y ago
> They broke Amazons policies and organized other employees to also break policy. How's Kohlberg Stage 4 working out for you?
- uoaei 6y ago
  Maybe a little trite, but this is the correct framing IMO. Blindly accepting rules, just because they're noted down in some policy by a perceived authority, is the very definition of bootlicking.
  - tracer4201 6y ago
    That’s interesting. So when someone has an opinion that differs from your world view, you launch personal attacks directly at them? Does cyber bullying make you feel better about yourself? Because that’s what you are - a bully. Many of your neighbors are capitalists. You must have a lot of unhealthy bent up anger if this is how you respond to people with different perspectives. I hope you find help.
    - uoaei 6y ago
      If you are feeling personally attacked when someone accurately characterizes your philosophical stance, you may not be as secure in your opinions as you think you are.
      - tracer4201 6y ago
        You called me a bootlicker and then doubled down, told me your personal attack on me is objectively correct, and told me I’m insecure when I called you out on it. You’re the definition of a cyber bully. I imagine in real life you don’t have half the spine to behave this way, and if you do, I feel terribly sorry for anyone who has to interact with you.
- tracer4201 6y ago
  How’s cyber bullying for you? Just to be clear, your comment isn’t about Amazon policies or the appropriate response. Your comment is a personal attack on me. Does that make you feel superior or bigger than me? Good luck to you in real life.
ihumanable 6y ago
It's amazing all the free market zealots here are totally fine with companies completely messing with the fundamentals that make markets work. Companies tell employees not to discuss their salaries, this causes an information asymmetry where employees can't accurately ascertain the free market value of their labor. Workers try to pool their power together to get more of the value that they produce, they are evil. Corporate mergers and acquisitions that pool the corporations power so they can maximize profits, just the market at work.
- dumbfoundded 6y ago
  "The poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires"
- UncleMeat 6y ago
  The big one to me is that the "free speech absolutists" are consistently nowhere to be found when labor organizing speech is silenced.
  - heavyset_go 6y ago
    Those same absolutists were also cheering Google, Twitter and US government on about a decade ago when the platforms, and the government, really started to censor Islamic fundamentalist content as part of their anti-terrorism initiatives.
- tracer4201 6y ago
  I didn’t use the word evil. Why argue a strawman? Does that help you feel your opinion is superior or more important?

wting 6y ago

Company policy cannot overrule laws, but it is not illegal to put it in a contract. Companies put in things they can't enforce because it has the same effect of discouraging certain behaviors. A company's policy cannot prohibit employees from talking about the company. Obviously there is more nuance (e.g. leaking internal info) but in this case we're discussing public events.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

door101 6y ago

> If I was a business owner, I would have done the same thing. But you're not. Why take the side of a class of people that you don't belong to that don't share your interests (owners) instead of the class you do belong to and do share your interests (workers)?

tracer4201 6y ago
I don’t think this is black and white between owners and workers. Corporate America is much more complicated. The owner and worker narrative sounds like communist take. I’m an American who values individualism and hard work. I fundamentally don’t believe in what you’re trying to say here. You don’t have to “own” a business to understand how to manage people. If someone had issues and they take those issues on to stop your entire business and halt productivity, you remove that person. It’s really that simple.

acuozzo 6y ago

> They broke Amazons policies and organized other employees to also break policy. How's Kohlberg Stage 4 working out for you?

uoaei 6y ago
Maybe a little trite, but this is the correct framing IMO. Blindly accepting rules, just because they're noted down in some policy by a perceived authority, is the very definition of bootlicking.
- tracer4201 6y ago
  That’s interesting. So when someone has an opinion that differs from your world view, you launch personal attacks directly at them? Does cyber bullying make you feel better about yourself? Because that’s what you are - a bully. Many of your neighbors are capitalists. You must have a lot of unhealthy bent up anger if this is how you respond to people with different perspectives. I hope you find help.
  - uoaei 6y ago
    If you are feeling personally attacked when someone accurately characterizes your philosophical stance, you may not be as secure in your opinions as you think you are.
    - tracer4201 6y ago
      You called me a bootlicker and then doubled down, told me your personal attack on me is objectively correct, and told me I’m insecure when I called you out on it. You’re the definition of a cyber bully. I imagine in real life you don’t have half the spine to behave this way, and if you do, I feel terribly sorry for anyone who has to interact with you.
tracer4201 6y ago
How’s cyber bullying for you? Just to be clear, your comment isn’t about Amazon policies or the appropriate response. Your comment is a personal attack on me. Does that make you feel superior or bigger than me? Good luck to you in real life.

ihumanable 6y ago

It's amazing all the free market zealots here are totally fine with companies completely messing with the fundamentals that make markets work. Companies tell employees not to discuss their salaries, this causes an information asymmetry where employees can't accurately ascertain the free market value of their labor. Workers try to pool their power together to get more of the value that they produce, they are evil. Corporate mergers and acquisitions that pool the corporations power so they can maximize profits, just the market at work.

dumbfoundded 6y ago
"The poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires"
UncleMeat 6y ago
The big one to me is that the "free speech absolutists" are consistently nowhere to be found when labor organizing speech is silenced.
- heavyset_go 6y ago
  Those same absolutists were also cheering Google, Twitter and US government on about a decade ago when the platforms, and the government, really started to censor Islamic fundamentalist content as part of their anti-terrorism initiatives.
tracer4201 6y ago
I didn’t use the word evil. Why argue a strawman? Does that help you feel your opinion is superior or more important?