Name: Citing 'Vein of Toxicity' and Firing of Whistleblowers, Amazon VP Resigns in Disgust
Brand: commondreams.org
SKU: commondreams-org-131
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

Citing 'Vein of Toxicity' and Firing of Whistleblowers, Amazon VP Resigns in Disgust

preview

Sign up for our newsletter.Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox.Follow us: Common Dreams will never be locked behind a paywall because we believe our journalism should remain freely available to everyone ― not just those who can afford to pay. By becoming a sustaining monthly donor today, you can help make sure our work remains free for those who aren't able to chip in. Donate Now ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our Workers protest against the failure from their employers to provide adequate protections in the workplace of the Amazon delivery hub on National May Day Walkout/Sickout by workers at Amazon, Whole Foods, Innstacart and Shipt amid the Covid-19 pandemic on May 1, 2020, in Hawthorne, California. (Photo: Valerie Macon/AFP via Getty Images) "This is a really big deal. This kind of courage is what we need&nbsp;right now, in every workplace and walk of life." Amazon vice president Tim Bray won praise from labor rights advocates on Monday after resigning from the company over its treatment of whistleblowers during the Covid-19 pandemic, publishing a letter on his personal blog explaining the decision.After more than five years as a vice president at the company, Bray that he was quitting "in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers&nbsp;who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19."In the letter, Bray defended Amazon workers including Staten Island warehouse employee and Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) organizers , all of whom were fired after leading petitions and protests over unsafe conditions in the retailer's warehouses as the pandemic continues to spread across the United States."Firing whistleblowers isn't just a side-effect of macroeconomic forces, nor is it intrinsic to the function of free markets," wrote Bray, who was a "distinguished engineer" and is now the highest-ranking Amazon employee to speak out about the company's conduct during the pandemic. "It is&nbsp;evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison."Smalls, Costa, and Cunningham were among those who thanked Bray for speaking out.Good luck with your future&nbsp;endeavors Tim sincerely&nbsp; — Christian Smalls&nbsp;(@Shut_downAmazon) &nbsp;Amazon VP, resigns over&nbsp; firings of me, and others.Says Amazon “firing whistleblowers”&nbsp;is “evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose&nbsp;neither to serve nor drink that poison.”Thank you, Tim.— Emily&nbsp;Cunningham (@emahlee) &nbsp;I ask all Amazon&nbsp;employees… At what point do you say enough is enough? — marencosta&nbsp;(@marencosta) Other advocates noted the significance of Bray's stand against the powerful company."This is a really big deal," author&nbsp;Naomi Klein. "This kind of courage is what we need&nbsp;right now, in every workplace and walk of life."Wow. This is a pretty &nbsp;amazing response from (Amazon’s VP who just resigned in protest), and worth reading in full.&nbsp;—&nbsp;Celeste Ng (@pronounced_ing) &nbsp;Amazon is basically firing&nbsp;any worker who complains about exposure to Covid-19 or poor conditions. No&nbsp;unions, no free speech, and punishment for whistleblowers. Kudos to Tim Bray, one&nbsp;of Amazon's leading engineers, for resigning in protest.&nbsp;—&nbsp;Edward Luce (@EdwardGLuce) &nbsp;I admire the action&nbsp; has&nbsp;taken - resigning from Amazon to support covid whistleblowers— Martin&nbsp;Fowler (@martinfowler) &nbsp;Bray said he brought his concerns to company executives in April after Cunningham and Costa were fired after starting a petition on behalf of the warehouse workers. He formally resigned and published the open letter after his complaints went unheeded.Amazon's actions in recent weeks—including its attempted against Smalls, who organized a walkout over a lack of social distancing protocols and transparency at the Staten Island facility—were "designed to create a climate of fear," wrote Bray, who also slammed his former employer as "chickenshit."Bray acknowledged in his post that Amazon says it is taking precautions to protect workers in its warehouses, but wrote,&nbsp;"The big problem isn't the specifics of Covid-19 response. It's that Amazon treats the humans in the warehouses as fungible units of pick-and-pack potential. Only that's not just Amazon, it's how 21st-century capitalism is done."The former company executive pointed out that the e-commerce giant, while a formidable power in the U.S., has been reined in elsewhere. In France, where Amazon workers are represented by unions, a court last month that the company must only complete deliveries of essential products while its warehouses' safety measures are being investigated.&nbsp;"If we don't like certain things Amazon is doing, we need to put legal guardrails in place to stop those things," Bray wrote. "We don't need to invent anything new; a combination of antitrust and living-wage and worker-empowerment legislation, rigorously enforced, offers a clear path forward.&nbsp;Don't say it can't be done, because&nbsp;France is doing it."Bray's letter comes three days after employees at Amazon were joined by workers at Trader Joe's, FedEx, Whole Foods, and Instacart in a over wages, public health precautions, and working conditions.&nbsp;Increasing low-wage workers' influence over decision-making at huge companies will require sustained pressure campaigns with widespread support, particularly from those in positions of power, suggested Bray.&nbsp;"At the end of the day, it's all about power balances," Bray wrote. "The warehouse workers are weak and getting weaker, what with mass unemployment and (in the U.S.) job-linked health insurance. So they're gonna get treated like crap, because capitalism. Any plausible solution has to start with increasing their collective strength."Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely. We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you. Donate Now ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our "Today's ruling shows that Hubbard County cannot repress Native people for the benefit of Enbridge by circumventing the law," said Indigenous water protector Winona LaDuke. "This cruel ban insults West Virginia doctors, endangering their patients' lives while subjecting them to appalling government surveillance, and threatens to put other medical providers in prison simply for providing healthcare," said one activist. "Since 1998, in our corrupt political system, the private healthcare sector has spent more than $10.6 billion on lobbying and over the last 30 years it has spent more than $1.7 billion on campaign contributions to maintain the status quo." "He just turns away from her and starts yelling about Democrats to drown her out," said one rights advocate. "Sort of a metaphor for the Republican Party." "Irresponsible, greedy companies cannot be allowed to build a dangerous, climate-destroying deepwater disaster along our Texas Gulf Coast," said one organizer. Donate ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our

Sign up for our newsletter.Quality journalism. Progressive values. Direct to your inbox.Follow us: Common Dreams will never be locked behind a paywall because we believe our journalism should remain freely available to everyone ― not just those who can afford to pay. By becoming a sustaining monthly donor today, you can help make sure our work remains free for those who aren't able to chip in. Donate Now ×To donate by check, phone, or other method, see our Workers protest against the failure from their employers to provide adequate protections in the workplace of the Amazon delivery hub on...

public

Writer: commondreams, awomensthing, inthesetimesmag, billmoyers, ajam

Julia Conley

Common Dreams NewsCenter, often referred to simply as Common Dreams, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, U.S.-based, news website that declares itself as serving the progressive community. Common Dreams publishes news stories, editorials, and a newswire of current, breaking news. Common Dreams also re-publishes relevant content from numerous other sources such as the Associated Press and had published writers such as Robert Reich and Molly Ivins. The website also provides links to other relevant columnists, periodicals, radio outlets, news services, and websites.

Citing 'Vein of Toxicity' and Firing of Whistleblowers, Amazon VP Resigns in Disgust

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS