Amazon engineer quits after he 'snapped' when the company fired workers who called for coronavirus p

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CNBC

By Annie Palmer

Tim Bray, a senior Amazon software engineer, has resigned from his role at the company after five years, citing “dismay” over Amazon’s decision to fire outspoken critics of its labor practices.

In a fiery blog post, titled “Bye, Amazon,” Bray, a vice president at Amazon Web Services (AWS), said his last day at the company was Friday. Bray said he “snapped” after Amazon fired Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, two former user experience designers who criticized Amazon’s climate stance and, most recently, its treatment of warehouse workers amid the coronavirus. Amazon has said it fired Costa and Cunningham for “repeatedly violating internal policies.”

“I quit in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers who were making noise about employees frightened of Covid-19,” Bray wrote in the blog post, adding that “remaining an Amazon VP would have meant, in effect, signing off on actions I despised. So I resigned.”

Bray did not respond to a request for comment. Amazon declined to comment on Bray’s resignation.



Nikol Szymul staffs a reception desk at Amazon offices discretely tucked into a building called Fiona in downtown Seattle, Washington on May 11, 2017.
Getty Images

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/04/amazon-engineer-resigns-over-companys-treatment-of-workers.html

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FULL title didn't fit the space.

[IronLionZion]

1. They've also been price gouging

People often go there first when online shopping these days. I looked for some stuff on there and found it cheaper through a company's own website. With shipping and donation of protective goggles to frontline hospital workers it still ended up being cheaper than the Amazon price. Wholesale office suppliers are sitting on tons of excess inventory since offices are closed, so many important products like hand sanitizer and disinfectant can be purchased in bulk elsewhere if people want it badly enough.

AWS is probably a sweet place to work but it's good that software engineers are standing in solidarity with the warehouse workers.

[Stuart G]

2. I have heard "rumors" that there are other places to buy ..........."stuff".. Is that true?

If Amazon looses 20 percent of sales, maybe that will be a lesson. I think it would..

[IronLionZion]

5. Amazon stock has been soaring since this pandemic began

maybe it's time for consumers to shop elsewhere

https://www.google.com/search?q=NASDAQ:+AMZN

[Cirque du So-What]

3. One stalwart individual amid a sea of pusillanimous schlemiels

If only more workers would vote with their feet, corporations couldn't exercise such power of life and death. We've been bamboozled into thinking that we'll be destroyed if we date defy our corporate overlords. That notion must be dispelled.

[IronLionZion]

4. And consumers can stop consuming

They have competitors. Bezos found out the hard way what happens when he crosses Trump and lost billions in cloud contracts.

[Foolacious]

7. Worked in the same circles as him,

thought not directly with him, years ago. Good guy. Smart and fun at conferences.

[Progressive Jones]

13. Sadly, top management in this World is full of money grubbers and desperado ladder climbers.

They aren't willing to give up that fat salary and the perks. The few with a conscience
can afford to walk, and they will likely land on their feet. The average worker typically can't afford to do that.

[BigmanPigman]

6. He is able to sleep at night knowing he is a decent human

with respect for others and he still has his integrity.

Boycott Amazon...it is not difficult. Fuck them and their $$$ trillions. They can protect their workers...they CHOOSE not to.

[Progressive Jones]

14. He should do a start up that takes a bite out of Amazon. nt

[BigmanPigman]

16. Good idea!

I am sure he has enough $$$ saved up to take a big bite.

[Progressive Jones]

17. He can probably put together some investors in his circles, too. nt

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Was stiffed by Amazon buyer

at an Ivy League institution once, never saw a reason to go back. They had great difficulty shipping to a non-street address. No one to solve problems. I really do go offline for things. I don't like some of what Biggest does, but I must admit, availability of diverse products, price ... often there's no where else. And you know, for auto parts .... There is nothing like a small town old-fashioned NAPA store. Is it 50 cents more? Yes, usually. But it's here, now, and they can get it in 1-2 days, and there's someone who knows what to do.

[yuiyoshida]

9. You mean you never heard this???

[bucolic_frolic]

10. Actually I have ordered from them several times

Have had no problems. But they do ship from 3 warehouses and shipping charges can pile up for small items. Plus I buy parts I don't need because they're so cheap. Now I have a box of these extras. You see, unforunately, personality is also a factor online. And I can't control myself.

[yuiyoshida]

12. If I had the means to have stuff delivered and the money

I would shop on line... fortunately most stuff I can find in San Francisco, including Asian cultural stuff or Asian food, so I am in my element while still being an American!

[Initech]

11. Well when more people walk off the job, we can repurpose some of those distro centers.

They will make for some nice makeshift hospitals when this thing really blows up.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. Swords into plowshares, shopping malls into condos

But I do think lifestyles will be leaner. Consumerism is taking a whack here, drone delivery or not. McMansions as repositories of trinket capitalism never had an economic purpose other than to enrich purveyors. How anyone was pleased by some of this stuff is beyond me. Must be some inner purpose or substitute.

[Igel]

19. It'll make the service sector hurt.

Then again, a few years ago a coworker, family income $130k or more with 3 kids, said that even though they'd bought their house a decade before they were racking up debt.

He concluded that eating out twice a week had to stop. That was over $400/month, well over $4800/year. In fact, he had felt that he was going backwards, somehow having less disposable income even as his salary had increased. He also didn't have as much time, somehow. Then he realized that as his disposable income increased he spent it on eating out. And if you can all get home and make dinner and eat it in 60 minutes, it's still less time the food preparer and a lot less time for the others compared to eating out.

It did mean some planning. He was very amused by the end of the school year. Not only had they stopped racking up debt and started paying it down quickly, but they now had family dinners and felt more connected as a family both from eating together and collaborating-- 2 or 3 fixed dinner, 2 or 3 helped clean up.

Personally, I'd rather save up and buy something than eat out. Hang with friends not at a bar than pay bar prices.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. Kudos to Tim Bray for taking a stand on the side of social justice. . . . nt