Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Workers Have Pledged To Strike on September 20 (vice.com) 102
In a historic first, more than 1,200 Amazon employees announced last week that they will walk out of their offices on September 20 over the company's carbon footprint. In the following days, tech workers at Microsoft, Facebook, and Google have announced they will also go on strike. From a report: Of the big five tech companies, this leaves Apple employees, who have yet to make any statement on the climate strikes, which will take place in 120 countries. On the day its competitors are striking, Apple will release the iPhone 11. While Apple claims that the iPhone is getting greener, it's still a product that necessarily requires exploiting the Earth, and, in some cases, labor.
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I thought strike was only applicable to union employees anyway, I don't think these companies have a large organized labor presence do they?
But anyway, I can see strikes like in the past for dangerous work conditions, even for fair pay, etc....but for a fucking "carbon footprint"?
Seriously? I mean, what do they expect them to do, shut the doors, turn off all the electricity burning computers and c
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Is this even a strike?
I'd be willing to bet that 99% of them are going to come in the next day and record the day off in accordance with their company's time keeping policies and continue as if nothing happened. A lot of them will probably put in extra hours to make up for the work they didn't do that day. Maybe someone's manager will get annoyed because they had to reschedule a meeting.
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If it weren't for virtue signaling they wouldn't have anything to do at all.
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But if they want to spend their lunch hour protesting with some Swedish kid, I guess that's their own time to waste on nonsense.
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Well, yes. And they've had multiple days to do that at this point. Like I said. I'm sure they'll record it in accordance with their company's time keeping policies.
Whether it requires a formal request, advance notice or just a quick "hey boss, I'm going to do a thing tomorrow, I won't be in" seems unimportant.
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Seriously? I mean, what do they expect them to do, shut the doors, turn off all the electricity burning computers and change...
Jeff Bezos. Net worth. US$113.7 billion (August 2019).
I think he'll be okay sweetheart if that's what they actually had to do. But outside of deciding that the owners need to go completely ape shit on their current business model, somethings they could do is IDK, lobby Congress to give the middle finger to coal/oil companies? Invest in new nuclear technology? Lease land for offshore wind farms. Shit with a small fraction of their money they could literally launch their own freaking moonshot program int
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Re: Get your resume's in now (Score:2, Insightful)
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Given Amazon's near-insane turnover rate, firing the strikers would be almost trivial for them...
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They should clean their own houses before bitching for show. The fact they have the luxury to bitch like this at all is appalling considering the circumstances the rest of us are in from America to Zimbabwe. Self entitled twats, I hope they get shit canned.
Is it "luxury" or "right?"
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They should clean their own houses before bitching for show.ÂThe fact they have the luxury to bitch like thisÂat all is appalling considering the circumstances the rest of us are in from America to Zimbabwe. Self entitled twats, I hope they get shit canned.
Is it "luxury" or "right?"
I would say it's both. Of course the company's also have the luxury and the right to replace them.
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Luxury. For many around the world, the jobs these blessed people look down on are awesome jobs letting the locals do better than a literal dirt-floor existence.
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I would say it's both. Of course the company's also have the luxury and the right to replace them.
It remains to be seen if the companies have the luxury to replace them. That would mean hiring good employees was easy. Replacing thousands of employees who are talented enough to be hired at top tier technology companies is no small feat. To fire them for missing a single day of work is pretty extreme.
If one of my employees didn't come into work this Friday the worst I would do is charge them a PTO day. Two people on my team have earned enough respect I wouldn't even do that as I would respect how importan
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Is it "luxury" or "right?"
Everyone has the right to speak in protest of their government. They have the right to assemble peaceably to increase the visibility of this dissatisfaction. They also have the luxury of doing this during the time they would normally be working. Perhaps the companies experiencing the walkout will be understanding and do nothing. Perhaps these companies will even encourage this kind of protest. Perhaps these workers won't have complete freedom to walk out as it means lost wages but still have the luxury
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"Everyone has the right to speak in protest of their government." Tell that to your average Chinese citizen. Are you that dumb?
Just because a government violates the rights of the people does not mean those rights do not exist.
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{looks at Hong Kong}
Everyone has the right to protest. They also have to balance that against the punishment they may receive for doing so. "Right" does not mean "immune to repercussions". If fact, that's the core of civil disobedience: You accept the repercussions as a way of showing that the law is wrong.
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You have the right to strike.
I have the right to fire you.
Ain't having rights wonderful?
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The fact they have the luxury to bitch like this at all is appalling considering the circumstances
Yes, we're not dying of simple diseases and our country isn't war torn. Ergo, we shouldn't complain. Nice logic. I guess since we're all getting an education, have access to medicine, and have law and order here in the US, we ought not research new technology, fight diseases, or in any form or fashion make our lives better? Perfect logic.
Promote a culture (Score:3)
Promote a culture, pay the piper. Zero sh*ts given.
Behold the power of propaganda (Score:1)
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No they don't. You're giving them too much credit. They're not thinking about how you live at all. The way that you live doesn't even occur to them.
They're thinking about the way that they live, or the way that they want to live.
Don't worry.. (Score:3)
Foxconn will pollute twice as normal on sep 20 to compensate for it.
And the drive towards automation continues. (Score:2)
Re:And the drive towards automation continues. (Score:5, Funny)
They will have a plane to survive this ...
Not if it's the Boeing 737 Max.
Exploiting the earth (Score:5, Insightful)
Show me a manufactured product that doesn't exploit the Earth. Hell, show me a hunter-gatherer that isn't exploiting the Earth.
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False equivalence nonsense, there are degrees of exploitation, a hunter-gatherer doesn't exploit the earth as much as a tar sands operation for example.
There are also varying abilities to reduce environmental impact, and these cash-rich megacorps could switch to 100% renewable power tomorrow if they wanted to without incurring expenses to anyone to whom expenses are a meaningful problem, which is what these employees want.
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Which might explain why Apple employees are not a part of this.
Search "apple green energy" and you'll understand why.
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these cash-rich megacorps could switch to 100% renewable power tomorrow if they wanted to
One of them already has: Apple. Not just "carbon neutral" via carbon credits, offsets, or other PR tricks of that kind. Rather, they are actually operating 100% of their operations—including every retail store worldwide—directly off renewable energy, and have been doing so since late 2017 if memory serves.
Not only that, they have also for several years been applying a carrot-and-stick approach to their suppliers by offering their expertise and financial incentives to switch to renewables while r
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Re:Exploiting the earth (Score:4, Funny)
Directly off renewable energy?
So the Apple Store in the mall in my city has their own individual power lines separate from the rest of the mall stores to ensure that every electron comes from a carbon neutral source rather than the local electrical grid which uses a mix of coal, gas, hydroelectric, nuclear, and others to produce the electricity?
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So the Apple Store in the mall in my city has their own individual power lines separate from the rest of the mall stores to ensure that every electron comes from a carbon neutral source rather than the local electrical grid which uses a mix of coal, gas, hydroelectric, nuclear, and others to produce the electricity?
Fair enough, my use of "directly" was an inadvertent overstatement, but to say they are operating them 100% on renewable energy is not. As they talk about in their environmental report [apple.com], where renewable energy hasn't been available, they've been building solar arrays and other renewable energy sources to power those facilities. They're supplying that energy to the local grid, which then delivers it back to them at their facilities, so while the electrons may not be the exact same ones, to say that they are p
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Sounds kinda carbon taxy. Green here counts as green there.
Not that I refute their claim. And "close enough" can be a reverse slippery slope. Goalposts inch out as the status quo catches up. "Always strive for better" or some motivational poster shit.
Not that, as some conflators have mentioned, we'll ever be burden-free with human industry. Or should hope to be. We can burn a little ozone, long as we don't industrially fuck around we can still break even.
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every electron comes from a carbon neutral source
Yes. They count an approximation of the the electrons into their store and ensure an equal number of electrons from green sources were put into the grid to which they are attached. This makes complete sense, since due to the design of the electrical "grid" electrons are indistinguishable from one another once added to the grid. Running entirely separate mains would be less green simply due to the materials and disturbance caused.
Re:Exploiting the earth (Score:4, Informative)
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The capacity is probably already there to literally switch "tomorrow," rather than just figuratively as a sane person might've interpreted - the slowest process might be the paperwork. Do you think that every 1kw of solar panel in existence corresponds to someone paying for 1kw of renewable power? The grid power market is far more complex than that.
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Show me a manufactured product that doesn't exploit the Earth. Hell, show me a hunter-gatherer that isn't exploiting the Earth.
Exactly. And the word "exploit" has negative connotations that slant the story.
We're simply making use of what we have or can get, that's all it is. It's only a problem when the usage becomes detrimental to the system (the Earth).
I'm no fan of google or amazon as corporate entities and they could do better, but framing this as "exploiting the Earth" is a little hyperbolic.
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Show me a manufactured product that doesn't exploit the Earth. Hell, show me a hunter-gatherer that isn't exploiting the Earth.
Exactly. Where do these people think solar collectors and windmills come from? They come from these "evil corporations" that they keep protesting. The material to build them comes from mining the Earth. This means large and heavy machines using lots of energy to move many many tons of material. This material needs to be processed, refined, transported, and this means more large and heavy machines.
How much material are we talking about? There's some intelligent and educated people that went to the trou
Call me old fashioned (Score:2)
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When did companies decided (sic) to bend over backwards for every popular grievance?
When you become a slave to your workforce due to the skillset you require, and the lack of talent currently available.
AKA leverage.
One of the reasons why tech corps are trying to turn everyone into programmers, enlarge the pool of talent, drive down salaries for same.
Pink Slip List (Score:4, Interesting)
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Except that this particular 1200 is 77% of their Seattle office workforce.
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and?
You don't need to have finished highschool to understand the implications of that.
Re: Pink Slip List (Score:1)
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Think of the energy savings if they closed that down and moved to HQ2?
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So it's time to move that office, I get it?
Re:Pink Slip List (Score:5, Informative)
Um, what? 1200 is nowhere near 77% of their Seattle workforce of approximately 53,500 [seattletimes.com]. This is rather obvious, as they occupy at least four skyscrapers in downtown Seattle, and probably numerous other smaller office buildings.
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That has to be the funniest thing I have ever seen (Score:4, Interesting)
It's even better than Clevon Little in blazing saddles pointing a gun at his head and saying "Stop or I will shoot the N I G G E R"
Good job guys. You have just made the best business case ever for these companies to move, and outsource even more to code monkeys in the third world.
Big Tech has no ethics ... (Score:2)
... except for the ground-pounders.
We bitch about the corporations but the employees affect change.
They need our support. We all need to go walk with them and take the risks they take on our behalf.
Sadly, I won't be able to make it because I'm retired.
Tell Aunt Martha I send my regards.
Take photos and share.
Moronic virtue signaling (Score:3, Insightful)
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Geothermal is also a option in many cases, but it don't sound "hippie" enough to cater the attention of those starbuck chuggers, so bird mauling blades and barely profitable panels of black it is.
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These are probably the same idiots who are against nuclear power,
I have the same suspicion.
one of the few things we can actually do to bring down everyone's carbon footprint.
That's right. I keep being told about how Germany is "doing fine" on their switch over from coal and nuclear to wind and sun. A close look will show that they are in a panic right now.
https://www.powermag.com/germa... [powermag.com]
The German government doesn't know how they are going to replace the electricity from coal and nuclear just yet. It's far easier to make that switch to wind and solar for that first 20%, 30%, 40%, or wherever they are now, than it is to replace that last 20%, 30%, o
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Hobbling the economy now, when we can't imagine the tech in 2100, is stupider than people in 1900 hobbling the economy, leaving us with a pristine environment and 1970 technology.
9/20 hmm..... (Score:3)
Wow, that seems like a little much just to participate in the Area 51 Raid.
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I wonder how many signs they will have (Score:2)
Since they are walking out, I assume this means some kind of protest with signs and so on... sign produced by chopping down trees, or made using plastic and glues that further produced CO2.
You can go way down the rabbit hole of things producing CO2, and never emerge.
If they were all leaving for the day to plant a tree that would be one thing, But I see no sign of anything rational like that - just religious level bickering about some nebulous issue they are not helping.
I mean, what do they want happen here?
Re:I wonder how many signs they will have (Score:4, Insightful)
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And printed on laser printers and copiers that spew out micro plastics into the atmosphere that will wash into the oceans.
Will their hemp-based clothing be able to absorb all the damage they're doing?
It's far beyond the time to dial back the fear. (Score:5, Insightful)
All this doom and gloom from the "climate crisis" is wearing people thin and causing considerable anxiety, especially among children.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/... [thedailybeast.com]
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ne... [telegraph.co.uk]
https://www.axios.com/climate-... [axios.com]
Here's the first thing we all need to do...
STOP TERRORIZING OUR CHILDREN!!
The world is not going to end in 12 years. There will not be people resorting to cannibalism for food. Things might suck for a bit but for the most part kids will still be going to school, people will still have jobs, there will be food at the grocery store, we will have shelter, clothing, and fuel.
These people leaving work and school to protest are simply looking for an outlet for this anxiety, looking for some way to contribute to the solution after being told for years that there is nothing that they can do.
This needs to be dialed back to reflect the actual scale of the problem. This should not be a matter of daily discussion or driving people to leave work and school to protest.
The next 12 years, or whatever the time frame is today for the expected "tipping point", will be no more of a "climate crisis" than the next 100 years. We are doing very well in lowering our CO2 emissions and have done well in the past. We will fix this. Calm down, because getting yourself worked up to the point of damaging your own health is not helping anyone.
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Follow the money. The validity of the dangers are irrelevant. It is being used as an argument for winning elections and control of the economy.
This was first noticed around 1970, when class warfare rhetoric was becoming a loser at the polls, and certain factions shifted to ecology, as it was then called, via pollution and shortage arguments.
In many countries, this takes the form of corruption, to enrich the politicians by getting in the way of business, to get paid to get back out of the way.
Always follow
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Follow the money. The validity of the dangers are irrelevant. It is being used as an argument for winning elections and control of the economy.
There are certainly elements of the political class using this to gain control of the economy. What is inexcusable is terrifying children towards their ends. These politicians are wanting us to panic so that we are willing to demand what we would otherwise bring pitchforks and torches to prevent.
Don't panic, that only makes things worse.
https://www.climatedepot.com/2... [climatedepot.com]
Everyone, just calm down. We have time to do our research and look for options that are effective, affordable, and do not require giving
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Another example of this going too far.
https://dailycaller.com/2019/0... [dailycaller.com]
These are people that are planning to block traffic in DC to encourage passage of the Green New Deal. Have these people lost their minds?
Blocking traffic is illegal. It's going to piss off a lot of people. People that have work to do, people to see, and places to go. This will cause miles and miles of idling cars, which means more CO2 released unnecessarily. This is somehow supposed to get people on your side?
Guide to Reduce Carbon Footprint (Score:3, Interesting)
Step 1: reduce employment numbers containing those who walk out of doing their jobs. This way, they don't have to spend gas and other resources for coming to work.
Step 2: hire replacements for cheaper, because they are there and waiting.
Step 3: put out a press release at how much you reduced your carbon footprint by having to have fewer employees come to the office, and when they get payed for less it's costing less energy to transfer the lower amount of money.
Step 4: continue business as usual.
With google, I was under the impression (Score:2)
I thought they built servers specked to utilize as much CPU as possible, getting the most out of their processing power. But as of yet, I am unable to find a reliable source for that assumption. I would think by Google building it's own servers and choosing it's parts that it use's for cost efficiency that they would also be looking at their energy footprint trying to keep it down. If for no other
I don't get it (Score:4, Interesting)
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Moreover, how many of them are in denial about the carbon footprint of their diets?
Feels good (Score:2)
In nations like India, New Zealand, Ireland productive workers have a feeling that are getting more a lot more US work to do.
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Aw, heck, no (Score:2)
So the stuff I ordered and shipped via Prime will come in after 2 weeks instead of the usual one?
More like Storming Area 51 :) (Score:1)
"strike" or walkout (Score:2)
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Big Tech will use this as an excuse to get rid of a bunch they have been wanting to fire, but can't due to various laws.
Strike is not the first time (Score:1)
Strike? Or... (Score:2)
meanwhile surveillance capitalism (Score:2)
But we need to take a moral stand and do the right thing to improve our carbon footprint. It's our responsibility to be a good corporate citizen, and focus on what's important, and by doing what we can to help improve the environment.
It's important to virtue signal just how much we care while our companies data scrape everything there is to know about you and sell it to whoever they please. This is why we'll go so far as to strike. It's the ethical thing to do.
Climate change is no longer science (Score:2)
Climate change is about emotion, power, money and ignorance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
https://www.forbes.com/sites/a... [forbes.com]
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Climate change is about emotion, power, money and ignorance.
I'd put it more like...
The panic over climate change is about emotion, power, money and ignorance.
Or...
Calling this a "climate crisis" is about emotion, power, money and ignorance.
If this was about reducing CO2 emissions from human activity as quickly as possible then we'd be seeing demands for more nuclear power to replace coal, oil, and natural gas. Any concerns about what to do with the radioactive waste, or whatever else seems to come up as arguments against nuclear power, is something that can wait o
No demands, no results (Score:2)
A strike is when you refuse to work until some demands are met. If you have no demands then you will get no results. The linked article just refers to a hashtag calling for a protest, but there doesn't seem to be any organization or demands.
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Hypocrites (Score:2)
If they were truly concerned they would leave the organizations that are killing the Earth. But they want the paycheck so they will hang around instead.
Most places will terminate employees for this behavior. We'll see what happens.
Go for it (Score:2)
So kids, What are you going to do about it "Save The Planet"
Remember sacrifice starts with YOU, all of you! We can not afford any half measures. Or so YOU say!
Climate Victory!!! Sacrifice yourself today! You will have such a good self image which you can chat about on social media with pictures. OH Wait!
Really (Score:2)
"it's still a product that necessarily requires exploiting the Earth, and, in some cases, labor."
So does everything that we do.
Make a sandwich, flush the toilet, walk on the Moon...everything requires labor and to some extent, 'exploiting' the Earth. Although a better term would be "utilizing" or "making use of". It's only a problem when the usage becomes detrimental to the system (the Earth)
Nice way to frame it, though. When you eat a banana, are you 'exploiting' it? Did you 'exploit' that water you just d
Traffic (Score:2)
What happens... (Score:2)
Just think, everyone walks out (quits) and no unemployment. Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants?
Are they not aware of operations in Oregon? (Score:2)
Each of these companies' largest (AWS next-to-largest) regions are powered by renewable hydroelectricity and solar in Oregon.
Why does a child have so much influence? (Score:2)
Reducing their carbon footprint.... (Score:1)