<story><title>One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-12/one-google-staffer-fired-two-others-put-on-leave-amid-tensions</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>leftyted</author><text>My empoyer doesn&amp;#x27;t have a lot of power over me.  I&amp;#x27;m a programmer not a coal miner.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t want to be in a union.  I don&amp;#x27;t want to join some club.  I don&amp;#x27;t want to pay dues.  I don&amp;#x27;t want to read newsletters or listen to speeches or be involved at all in the grubby, underhanded manuevering for power that would come with a union.  And I&amp;#x27;m tired of people condescendingly telling me that I&amp;#x27;m wrong for feeling this way.  I&amp;#x27;m not wrong.  Power corrupts and labor is no more pure than mangement.  If labor gets the upper hand it will abuse its position.&lt;p&gt;The solution is a balance of power between labor and management.  In my case, I feel I have plenty of power.  In the case of Google employees, I feel they have plenty of power.  Broadly speaking, programmers (in the US) have plenty of power.&lt;p&gt;If you want to do good, volunteer at a soup kitchen.  Of course that would be &lt;i&gt;hard&lt;/i&gt; and would involve looking at things you&amp;#x27;d rather not see.</text></item><item><author>DagAgren</author><text>&amp;gt; Your colleagues are not an authentic social network who you can organise with and pursue activism.&lt;p&gt;This is absolutely, 100% false. This is exactly what you SHOULD do, and this is what unions are for.&lt;p&gt;Always organise with coworkers. Otherwise you are giving employers more power over you than you should.</text></item><item><author>say_it_as_it_is</author><text>What we are seeing are the consequences of &amp;quot;Employee Capture&amp;quot;.  Google captured the hearts and minds of its employees for workplace productivity.  Its side effects are varied.  The real world only sees highlights.&lt;p&gt;Googled created a bubble from which its employees can socialize  without ever needing to do so with the outside world.  Why talk politics with the outside world?  Stay with us, where it is safe, people are intelligent, and share your values (we swear).&lt;p&gt;This is a root problem at the company.  It is coming at a great cost.&lt;p&gt;James Damore shared his views with his social group.  These other activists do the same.  This is what people do among their own.&lt;p&gt;Being fired from Google amounts to not just losing a job but &amp;quot;friends&amp;quot; and the only people who the company encouraged socializing with.&lt;p&gt;Google has a major lawsuit on its hands, regardless of whatever arbitration agreement it makes new-hires sign.  Google is causing harm by capturing employees hearts and minds.&lt;p&gt;Your colleagues are not an authentic social network who you can organise with and pursue activism.  You aren&amp;#x27;t hired to do that.  While you are naive for thinking you could, it&amp;#x27;s not entirely your fault.  Google brainwashed you.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sangnoir</author><text>&amp;gt; My empoyer doesn&amp;#x27;t have a lot of power over me. I&amp;#x27;m a programmer not a coal miner.&lt;p&gt;Respectfully - were you a programmer during the last recession? I only ask because this power dynamic you imply is inherent in being a programmer can change (and has changed) in a matter of &lt;i&gt;weeks&lt;/i&gt; and you&amp;#x27;ll find the entire industry is not hiring, not seeking consultants, and not looking to buy your *aaS product.&lt;p&gt;There were a lot of desperate programmers during the great recession (and before that, the dotcom bust)&lt;p&gt;edit: removed age from what should have been a more general question.</text></comment>
<story><title>One Google Staffer Fired, Two Others Put on Leave Amid Tensions</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-12/one-google-staffer-fired-two-others-put-on-leave-amid-tensions</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>leftyted</author><text>My empoyer doesn&amp;#x27;t have a lot of power over me.  I&amp;#x27;m a programmer not a coal miner.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t want to be in a union.  I don&amp;#x27;t want to join some club.  I don&amp;#x27;t want to pay dues.  I don&amp;#x27;t want to read newsletters or listen to speeches or be involved at all in the grubby, underhanded manuevering for power that would come with a union.  And I&amp;#x27;m tired of people condescendingly telling me that I&amp;#x27;m wrong for feeling this way.  I&amp;#x27;m not wrong.  Power corrupts and labor is no more pure than mangement.  If labor gets the upper hand it will abuse its position.&lt;p&gt;The solution is a balance of power between labor and management.  In my case, I feel I have plenty of power.  In the case of Google employees, I feel they have plenty of power.  Broadly speaking, programmers (in the US) have plenty of power.&lt;p&gt;If you want to do good, volunteer at a soup kitchen.  Of course that would be &lt;i&gt;hard&lt;/i&gt; and would involve looking at things you&amp;#x27;d rather not see.</text></item><item><author>DagAgren</author><text>&amp;gt; Your colleagues are not an authentic social network who you can organise with and pursue activism.&lt;p&gt;This is absolutely, 100% false. This is exactly what you SHOULD do, and this is what unions are for.&lt;p&gt;Always organise with coworkers. Otherwise you are giving employers more power over you than you should.</text></item><item><author>say_it_as_it_is</author><text>What we are seeing are the consequences of &amp;quot;Employee Capture&amp;quot;.  Google captured the hearts and minds of its employees for workplace productivity.  Its side effects are varied.  The real world only sees highlights.&lt;p&gt;Googled created a bubble from which its employees can socialize  without ever needing to do so with the outside world.  Why talk politics with the outside world?  Stay with us, where it is safe, people are intelligent, and share your values (we swear).&lt;p&gt;This is a root problem at the company.  It is coming at a great cost.&lt;p&gt;James Damore shared his views with his social group.  These other activists do the same.  This is what people do among their own.&lt;p&gt;Being fired from Google amounts to not just losing a job but &amp;quot;friends&amp;quot; and the only people who the company encouraged socializing with.&lt;p&gt;Google has a major lawsuit on its hands, regardless of whatever arbitration agreement it makes new-hires sign.  Google is causing harm by capturing employees hearts and minds.&lt;p&gt;Your colleagues are not an authentic social network who you can organise with and pursue activism.  You aren&amp;#x27;t hired to do that.  While you are naive for thinking you could, it&amp;#x27;s not entirely your fault.  Google brainwashed you.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ddevault</author><text>What if your punch in, put on the blinders, work 8 hours, punch out, go home; emotionally-deatched approach has you building tools to enable censorship in China? Or what if you end up working on [insert your personal morally objectionable issue of choice]?&lt;p&gt;Your employer doesn&amp;#x27;t have power over you, but you have power over them. Organization is about choosing not to exercise that power by leaving for greener pastures and letting the company rinse and repeat with the next cycle of college graduates, but by &lt;i&gt;staying&lt;/i&gt; and choosing to influence the direction of the company in a positive way. You can choose to do your 8 hours every day and devote a full one-third of your life - the only life you get - to someone else&amp;#x27;s work that you don&amp;#x27;t have a stake in. But that just seems like the stupid, easy way out.</text></comment>