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“Amazon employees stage walkout over… climate goals” Really? You think people working in Amazon warehouses have at the forefront of their mind climate goals?

“Amazon employees stage walkout over… climate goals” Really? You think people working in Amazon warehouses have at the forefront of their mind climate goals? No these people want less shitty work and less shitty pay. They want to have dignified working life. Injecting climate propaganda into every topic isn’t clever

kadoban 3y ago
These mostly appear to be office workers. And I think they get to choose what their complaints are, unless you're suggesting that the article invented that?
- Clubber 3y ago
  The only quote from a striker from the article was: "I'm not suited for in-office work," said Church Hindley, a quality assurance engineer (via The Guardian). "I deal with depression and anxiety and I was able to get off my anxiety medication and start living my life." So yea, it's plausible the author inserted their own cause in there. Either way, one of the keys to striking is you have to have direct reasons for the strike as a group. If 10 people interviewed say 10 different things, it just sounds like people bitching. If they all said this particular strike was for RTO, it would have much more directed power.
indrora 3y ago
It's all three, in equal measure. If you're not in the Seattle area, you don't realize just how much of the South Lake Union area is taken up by Amazon and how much traffic it contributes to the problem. Amazon sliced through their list of shuttles, forcing workers to buy cars in order to get to work in some cases because the Seattle public transit system is woefully underfunded, with companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft contributing heavily to the issue. If I had to ballpark it, I'd say 1/3 of the smog produced every day is from some kind of Amazon or related transit route, be it from busses that have to go from Seattle all the way to the far reaches of Redmond just to cart Amazon employees to and from the office or the sheer volume of cars that clog up the bridge, 405, and 5 every morning and evening. Amazon has been touting how "green" they are while simultaneously forcing their employees to continue coming into office when they don't have to.
- TurkishPoptart 3y ago
  Really? I found that Seattle has some of the best public transit in the country.
  - jldugger 3y ago
    In the land of the blind...
  - llamaLord 3y ago
    Yeah but that's not really saying much...
  - indrora 3y ago
    It does, for the western US. Comparing it to.... Albuquerque or Denver maybe. It's nothing compared to the powerhouse of Boston or New York city. Seattle is Alright compared to them. San Francisco wipes Seattle on the floor of the fish market in comparison tho.
- throwaway5959 3y ago
  Amazon software engineers in Seattle probably start at $150k. They should buy EVs if they are concerned about smog, or spend their $$$ on living close to work (within walking distance).
  - bradknowles 3y ago
    Living close to work in Seattle would mean they'd have to join a shared house with some other Amazon devs, because otherwise it wouldn't be possible to afford to live that close.
  - indrora 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - nocsi 3y ago
      It’s not just Amazon to blame, there’s just a shit ton more people living in Seattle with many tech companies having offices here. The main problem for traffic is actually a driver culture clash between transplants and native Washington drivers. Don’t believe me? 10-15 years ago, almost all the traffic could be attributed to some sort of accident. Nowadays traffic is never related to an accident and it all occurs at interchanges and merges on the highway. Washington drivers like to queue up miles ahead of time for exits they have, they’re also deathly afraid of cars merging into their lane and will switch lanes defensively. Both sides generate a lot of traffic waves when they continually clash.
bdcravens 3y ago
The workers who left aren't warehouse workers, and the layoffs also referenced were mostly non-warehouse workers. RTO also has nothing to do with warehouse workers. The warehouse workers have a lot to complain about, but this walkout was pretty much unrelated to that group. Given the location of these office workers (Seattle) it's quite possible that environmental concerns are important to them. It's as wrong to dismiss that concern as it is to inject "climate propaganda" in situations where it isn't true.

kadoban 3y ago

These mostly appear to be office workers. And I think they get to choose what their complaints are, unless you're suggesting that the article invented that?

Clubber 3y ago
The only quote from a striker from the article was: "I'm not suited for in-office work," said Church Hindley, a quality assurance engineer (via The Guardian). "I deal with depression and anxiety and I was able to get off my anxiety medication and start living my life." So yea, it's plausible the author inserted their own cause in there. Either way, one of the keys to striking is you have to have direct reasons for the strike as a group. If 10 people interviewed say 10 different things, it just sounds like people bitching. If they all said this particular strike was for RTO, it would have much more directed power.

indrora 3y ago

It's all three, in equal measure. If you're not in the Seattle area, you don't realize just how much of the South Lake Union area is taken up by Amazon and how much traffic it contributes to the problem. Amazon sliced through their list of shuttles, forcing workers to buy cars in order to get to work in some cases because the Seattle public transit system is woefully underfunded, with companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft contributing heavily to the issue. If I had to ballpark it, I'd say 1/3 of the smog produced every day is from some kind of Amazon or related transit route, be it from busses that have to go from Seattle all the way to the far reaches of Redmond just to cart Amazon employees to and from the office or the sheer volume of cars that clog up the bridge, 405, and 5 every morning and evening. Amazon has been touting how "green" they are while simultaneously forcing their employees to continue coming into office when they don't have to.

TurkishPoptart 3y ago
Really? I found that Seattle has some of the best public transit in the country.
- jldugger 3y ago
  In the land of the blind...
- llamaLord 3y ago
  Yeah but that's not really saying much...
- indrora 3y ago
  It does, for the western US. Comparing it to.... Albuquerque or Denver maybe. It's nothing compared to the powerhouse of Boston or New York city. Seattle is Alright compared to them. San Francisco wipes Seattle on the floor of the fish market in comparison tho.
throwaway5959 3y ago
Amazon software engineers in Seattle probably start at $150k. They should buy EVs if they are concerned about smog, or spend their $$$ on living close to work (within walking distance).
- bradknowles 3y ago
  Living close to work in Seattle would mean they'd have to join a shared house with some other Amazon devs, because otherwise it wouldn't be possible to afford to live that close.
- indrora 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - nocsi 3y ago
    It’s not just Amazon to blame, there’s just a shit ton more people living in Seattle with many tech companies having offices here. The main problem for traffic is actually a driver culture clash between transplants and native Washington drivers. Don’t believe me? 10-15 years ago, almost all the traffic could be attributed to some sort of accident. Nowadays traffic is never related to an accident and it all occurs at interchanges and merges on the highway. Washington drivers like to queue up miles ahead of time for exits they have, they’re also deathly afraid of cars merging into their lane and will switch lanes defensively. Both sides generate a lot of traffic waves when they continually clash.

bdcravens 3y ago

The workers who left aren't warehouse workers, and the layoffs also referenced were mostly non-warehouse workers. RTO also has nothing to do with warehouse workers. The warehouse workers have a lot to complain about, but this walkout was pretty much unrelated to that group. Given the location of these office workers (Seattle) it's quite possible that environmental concerns are important to them. It's as wrong to dismiss that concern as it is to inject "climate propaganda" in situations where it isn't true.