Amazon Orders Employees To Relocate To Seattle and Other Hubs (seattletimes.com)
- Reference: 0178095449
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/06/19/0535202/amazon-orders-employees-to-relocate-to-seattle-and-other-hubs
- Source link: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon-orders-employees-to-relocate-to-seattle-and-other-hubs/
> More proof that Amazon's leadership views the balance of power between itself and its workforce tilting decisively in its favor: Amazon's employees are being told they must [2]relocate to one of the company's large hubs -- with the company specifying the required location -- or resign with no severance. CEO Andy Jassy did have the grace to give people 30 days to decide.
[1] https://slashdot.org/~93+Escort+Wagon
[2] https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon-orders-employees-to-relocate-to-seattle-and-other-hubs/
company specifying the required location so they w (Score:3)
company specifying the required location so they will pay for reallocation?
Employers have all the power again... (Score:2)
Between years of layoffs and slow hiring, the power is completely with employers now.
They could do that? (Score:2)
I know in Canada that would never fly.
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Like most other civilized countries as well. In the USA the results will be a bump in stock prices and bonuses for suits.
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Also illegal in the UK. While they can relocate offices, they'd have to go through an employee consultation process and they certainly would be making redundancy payments. It's also typical to have 1-3 month notice periods in employment contracts. The way TFA is phrased sounds like constructive dismissal.
Double-Standard (Score:1)
On one hand, property owners can legally excavate through Earth's crust, mantle, magma, and core... on their slice of heaven. On the other hand, airspace is Government controlled, so you can't jump 1 foot in the air and wait a few time zones to clock in... unless you're at the poles!!1 Why doesn't Jeff Bezos just change his name to Jeff Workfromhome?
How to loose your ... (Score:1)
... human capital in 30 days.
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Companies like Amazon seem to be betting on the AI taking over theory. It's probably the only explanation that makes sense now, because their reputation among skilled technical people will be permanently damaged by moves like this. It won't suddenly repair itself whenever the pendulum swings back to being an employee's market, if the great AI revolution turns out to be just another hype cycle after all.
Working at a FAANG used to be attractive to a lot of highly skilled technical people and having employment
France sent one of its biggest CEO to jail forthis (Score:2)
[1]They kept moving employees around [wikipedia.org]. I've met the CEO in question and to this day he's sure he was in his good right to do this. What an asshole.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_S.A._suicides
Eff you, Amazon (Score:2)
I cancelled my Prime subscription long ago, and have brought my business with Amazon pretty much down to zero. May you rot in hell.
That's just layoffs (Score:2)
We all know this is just layoffs. I wonder how much of it is regular layoffs and how much of it is getting rid of older workers.
Back in the day IBM did a mass round of layoffs of management. It's something that a lot of older nerds like to celebrate.
I looked into it and it turns out the reason they did it was to get rid of old workers. They had promoted a bunch of older workers into management roles even though they were still doing engineering work. They didn't want to keep paying the higher wages
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Legally, they actually can't force you to resign, so they can make them fire you. I'm not sure how that plays out in court after a lawsuit, though.
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Resigning means Amazon doesn't have to make unemployment payments while firing requires such payments?
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Unemployment benefits are paid by a state unemployment insurance fund, not by companies.
Companies pay premiums into the fund.
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True, BUT...
More unemployment claims against a company will often RAISE their unemployment tax rate in the future. So if they can get people to resign and not have claims, they save money in the long run.
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In Washington State, your unemployment insurance rates are set by the state and they are raised in proportion to how many payable claims are made against you – except that there's a cap. Once you've reached a certain number of payable claims and you hit that cap, your rates don't go any higher. A big company like Amazon has probably reached that cap long ago and so this isn't a risk factor in how they treat people.
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Your statement is accurate, but needs more detail. Amazon, like all other employers, can contest unemployment claims. Successfully doing so saves them money on future unemployment insurance payments. They absolutely have financial incentive to contest claims.
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Amazon is kind of a bully. Not only do they treat their workers badly (this article being evidence of but one of their transgressions), but their business practices drive prices up across other vendors as well (their contracts require merchants to offer the lowest price at Amazon).
So, if you dislike these things, consider going out of your way to buy things anywhere BUT Amazon.