I feel like the social justice brigade needs to seriously lighten up - maybe don't watch content that sets you off so easily?
Just like everyone has had to do since.. the invention of television and other broadcast media?
That's exactly the threat here, but with an opportunity for the company to alter its decision making if it wants the labor.
This reminds me more of the student protests we used to see, where they wanted to walk out of classes or miss exams but also wanted special treatment so they didn't fail the class.
I've got no problem with not working at a place whose values you dont agree with, but I see this kind of action (and similar things at other tech companies) more as expecting your employer to pay you to undermine them. I could be wrong.
That would be a pretty awesome outcome - Netflix shouldn't have to change their programming (which is generally largely uncontroversial for the most part - I mean when is the last time they truly pushed the envelope? Maybe the OATS STUDIOS and original Black Mirror content?) to satisfy the permanently dissatisfied members of these new-age social movements that attempt to force people to say things that they don't agree with for fear of getting 'cancelled' among other outcomes that are socially negative.
Even more awesome if they filmed it and had Dave Chappelle standing outside to roast them as they were escorted out.
They work at FAANG. Pretty sure they'll be able to get new jobs very quickly.
I suspect people involved with work stoppages who aren't protected via a union are keenly aware of the possibility of being fired and have deemed it worth the risk.
> This reminds me more of the student protests we used to see, where they wanted to walk out of classes or miss exams but also wanted special treatment so they didn't fail the class.
Umm, why not compare it to just a normal labour duspute strike action? This is literally a text book example of the type of action organized labour takes when its mad about something.
I think you vastly overestimate the amount of forethought that humans apply when following the herd. Just look at all the Jan 6 people who are completely floored that there might be consequences to their actions.
They just didn't see the double standard coming.
That's what makes it so good for both parties: Netflix would get rid of employees who are holding the company back, and the employees could easily find new places to work. Seems very mutually beneficial.
> This is literally a text book example of the type of action organized labour takes when its mad about something.
It's not, really. Strikes are usually about workers: their pay, their conditions, their environment.
Rightly or wrongly, they seem to think netflix did something morally wrong (i haven't watched the show in question, so not making any judgements on validity). People who work for "bad" companies are often seen as "bad", so it does affect the employees.
More to the point, isn't the important bit that employees are angry and in agreement, not what they are angry about? It seems pretty dystopian to me to say only some grievences are legit.
Anyways, there's also other examples of historical strikes over moral issues. Googling found me https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Longshoremen%27s...
I think companies are acutely aware and growingly suspicious of employee activism. Would you want to hire an activist for your organization? It would be a red flag to me as the activist employees could second guess any decisions made at any level of the organization and work to organize to cause a disruption. It's just not an effective way to run a business
Maybe if you're curing cancer or something, but for most tech workers working on some generic CRUD app, they pay lip service to being motivated by the "mission", but settle for something mildly interesting that hopefully isn't actively doing evil in the world.
Your employees trade time and skill for money. Hearts and souls is a much less common trade.
In most places i have worked, the mission has been some high minded rhetoric about how we're going to change the world for the better that is really disconnected from what we actually do.
If you want to use HN as intended—for intellectual curiosity—then you're welcome, but ideological agendas are the opposite of that, irrespective of which ideology.
You may not be interested in any ideology, but Ideology is surely interested in what you believe. That world where internet was for intellectual curiosity and not ideology battle at every step, is long gone and never coming back.
That's a very different thing than this of course, which is based around the idea, its not worth it to fire them all.
Letting people watch what they want is the democratic position that benefits society at large.
If an individual employee doesn't like their job, they should quit and find a different one. If a large portion don't like it, then a labour dispute is one possible way to try and resolve the situation.
/s
I worked at a retail job briefly after high school and it was a joke that I had to pay union due by law in the state of Maryland.
Software engineers are politically probably one of the strongest positioned labor groups in modern history, up their with probably high finance and heirs of huge fortunes. The fact of the matter is that most people don't want to work the vast majority of union jobs and simultaneously, corporations are willing to offshore many of these labor requirements in part due to the cost burden. Sure, management takes home a lot, but honestly I'm unsympathetic to most union industries and I shouldn't have to pay another tax to some obscure group to handle issues.
also, it’s a fallacy that the senior managers of an organization (at least successful ones) “run” it. at best, they have outsize influence.
[I'm not a fan of cencorship either]
Same thing with the companies, they hire people to do work just like people hire other people. If hired people don't want to work - that's fine, just let them go. I am pretty content with this way of society and don't see how changing it can make it any better.
The person who leaked confidential data - yes, i could see that being a red flag in hiring.
I don't think we've reached the state (yet) where firms are going to be keeping blacklists of activists.
But we're certainly heading in that direction as techies try to force employers into more extreme stances. Dave Chappelle is a popular guy with broad mainstream appeal, and it's incredibly arrogant for Netflix employees to try to deplatform him, or to try to dictate what Netflix, a company with a global reach, can show to a worldwide audience.
And I think we are going to see some mass firings and circulation of blacklists in at least some of the FAANGS before people wake up and realize they are no longer in college protesting some speaker they think makes them "unsafe". For these types of salaries, some professionalism is expected, and long term employers will demand it.
I also think for a large demographic it will make Netflix a more interesting employeer, not less.
I'm in talks with a FAANG company now and this is an actual worry that I have but cannot discuss with my point of contact, that I will be canceled shortly after I'm hired either because of my friends, my views or something I said half a life ago.
Isn’t that explicitly illegal in the Us? Lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At-will_employment
The people they terminate would even be ineligible for unemployment benefits since they admitted to slacking off at work, easily substantiating a termination for cause (and hence saving a Netflix some money by keeping their unemployment insurance premiums lower).
This is a good point.
There's likely a huge amount of content on Netflix that offends a lot of different people and groups. It's your choice to not watch, not subscribe, or not work for them.
There are constructive ways to work with your employer but if you're going to go this route, you better be ready for them to dismiss you.
Maybe I'll start checking Netflix open job boards. There my be some openings soon.
The employees would go on to complain about being improperly let go. This is what happened to Google AI Ethicist Timnit Gebru [0]. She wrote a very public letter demanding changes or she'll resign and Google took her up on the offer. If you go through her twitter[1] you can see she made the firing into her identity now even though it happened nearly a year ago now. It's kind of sad
[0] https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/3/22150355/google-fires-tim...
great byline, surely a hill to die on as opposed to real credentials. Can't remember what this is from but this quote always feels super applicable to these times: "World's gone mad, going off the grid. over"
As with the threat itself, probably nothing unless someone else said something about it that I felt called for a response.
There's a long line of people who can provide the same labor to Netflix without the hysteria, so a parting of ways would be a pareto improving outcome.
And the next series of specials that Chappelle sells will have an increase in viewership because of the controversy these activist employees and stupid media outrage has created from this one. Netflix knows this and will want a chance at being the provider of that content.
AS long as their tactics keep working (and they do since everybody is submitting to their will), I don't see that changing.
While I don't agree with the aims of the employees in question, I should point out that unions came about because your advice does not work. The only way to stand a chance against organized capital is with organized labor. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28603398
Do you mean that it's easy to say "I quit," or that it's easy to kiss your next paychecks goodbye with no other approved recourse, despite the fact that you were employed by a company that you and thousands of others saw as perpetuating injustices toward a minority?