Amazon VP resigns over whistleblower firings

• “I quit in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19,” writes Tim Bray.
• Bray, who worked at Amazon for over five years, called the company “chickenshit” for firing and disparaging employees who have organized protests.

In an open letter on his website, Tim Bray wrote, “I quit in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19.”

Bray, who worked at Amazon for over five years, called the company “chickenshit” for firing and disparaging employees who have organized protests.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This is the latest protest that rocked the ecommerce and cloud computing giant. With increase in demand of online shopping during COVID-19, the company has hired 175,000 new warehouse workers in just under two months. However, the company has been accused of putting employees in danger by not slowing the pace of their work or providing them with adequate protective equipment.

As per Vice, there have been dozens of confirmed coronavirus cases at warehouses around the country, and workers have repeatedly said the company isn’t doing enough to protect them.

Last week, Amazon ended a program that allowed workers to take unlimited unpaid time off if they fear getting sick from the coronavirus.

In statements to Motherboard, Amazon has said its own protesting workers are “spreading misinformation and making false claims about Amazon,” and that it “objects to the irresponsible actions of labor groups.”

In resignation letter, Bray said that “firing whistleblowers isn’t just a side-effect of macroeconomic forces, nor is it intrinsic to the function of free markets. It’s evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison.”

Bray is the senior most (now former) Amazon employee to speak out about the company’s workplace culture and treatment of its workers. He has been well-known in the software engineering world for decades.