I work for AWS. How do I encourage change for Amazon warehouse workers?

Honestly, you have pretty little real leverage. Warehouse workers are going to have to form a union and threaten to really shut down amazon's profits, in order to defeat these profit-motivated outrages. It's always been like this. People have to self-emancipate.

To aid this you can help promote support for unionizing and other related things. But that's fairly secondary. I think using your position as an employee to call out Amazon's abuses can be a good way to direct media attention but without worker power, attention on its own doesn't actually do anything. But Amazon firing its employees has given them a lot of bad press. If it happens to you it might be a good thing politically. That does suck though, if you can't afford it be careful.

Related to all of these topics I want to plug https://www.taxamazon.net/about, which doesn't solve the issue of warehouse conditions but does help address one other externality of Amazon's relentless drive for profits at the expense of all other issues. Raising consciousness around their tax-dodging helps people realize their worker relations are terrible and vice versa, and passing this ballot initiative will do a lot of good on its own.

Edit: do get plugged in to Tech Workers’ Coalition if you aren’t. I just wanted to be sober about the challenges and opposition warehouse workers face and the necessary strategy for victory.

What you were supposed to do was not go work at Amazon, just like plenty of us won't work for Facebook, etc. Amazon being a terrible place to work isn't something new or foreign to us SWEs. Hell, every time they tried to interview me they'd tell me about how AWS is "run like a startup" and has very little do with the rest of the company. That's telling right there.

Don't let them have our engineering talent even if they offer you the moon (like Brays $1mil/yr). They should be fighting to repair their reputation to even be able to hire SWEs/etc but because people pop out of College and want to go make $120k (or people who only care about their income and not ethics) they have no problem keeping that boat full of new blood.

I cannot fathom making $1m as a SWE over 5 years while the massive majority of my company are treated like cannon fodder and it's well known throughout.. oh, everywhere. It's really easy to quit and sound like a hero in that situation. You're not a hero. You were still part of the problem that we've known about for a long time.

I'm not trying to defend Amazon, but the picture many of us have is inaccurate (I own a recruitment marketing company and have recruited for and against Amazon over the past five years in many markets). Prior to COVID, Amazon was one of the best-paying warehouse jobs and was putting immense upward pressure on restaurant, retail and low-end construction job pay. In many markets, Amazon was paying warehouse workers $16-$17/hour where the prevailing wage was $12-$13. The working conditions story wasn't as good for Amazon, and most companies were competing with Amazon by on benefits, policy (i.e. no seasonal layoffs, late, sick, vacation, etc) or culture (we're family friendly, free cookout every day, etc...).

You can serve as a shadow union organizer, provide organization and a plan for warehouse workers. Study what the Teamsters did https://teamster.org/content/first-teamsters-building-union 1. Organize offsite meetings for influential warehouse workers, convince them to become local union reps for each warehouse 2. Those leaders recruit lower level members to join the union and pay part of their wages into a fund used to recruit more union members and hire outside leadership (lawyers, others experienced in forming unions) 3. Quickly grow your membership while building a war chest but not actually hurting operations 4. Organize a strike that actually stops the ability for more than one critical facility to ship and receive products 5. Block access to the facility for any scabs or temporary workers that the company hires 6. Be ready and willing to negotiate with management, understand what you actually want.

really hope nothing about this can be tied back to you at AWS.

If you want to help, build a one page site giving the FC people all the information they need to get the ball rolling at their levels.

I think at your level, the only thing that will catch attention is a principled stand i.e. resigning and in your exit interviews make it clear why you are resigning. Tim was the start, if tons of colleagues follow him out the door, it will be noticed, which means you need to find like minded people and all resign together.

Become a Wobbly or look at other alternatives:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Workers_of_the_Worl...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_Workers_Coalition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Workers_of_Amer...

Disclosure: I work at Amazon, for AWS, as a VP / Distinguished Engineer.

Even though you work at AWS, there are ways to get familiar with how fulfillment centers work, and what the working conditions are like by doing the various jobs in a two day on-site program called C2FC. It's been nearly 9 years since I last did this, and I find myself wanting to do it again. It used to be compulsory training for all L7+ employees at the company, but this has been relaxed as we have grown larger, so some people aren't aware that the program exists. I believe that it is open to all full time employees, though they are currently not holding sessions (as you can imagine COVID-19 makes this impractical).

Getting connected with the right owners can sometimes be a challenge at a place like Amazon. As you're in an engineering role, the Principal Engineering Community is a resource can connect you to other engineers inside the company that are working, hands on, on challenging problems that include how we build safe working environments for FC associates. The SDEs in the operations organization are customer obsessed, and those customers include FC associates who use the tools and technology to perform their daily work. You can consider transferring to work directly on technology that FC associates use, and directly with the associates who use them as your customer.

Raising concerns internally to the right owner, in good faith, has always been welcome in my experience at Amazon. If you aren't directly in an organization that is working on solutions, progress might not be visible to you. There are challenges where we all are not satisfied with the speed in which we are able to address them. But that does not mean that there aren't coworkers working earnestly in doing so.

If you would like to reach directly out to me, you can via email or Chime. My login is "msw". I try to keep an open door policy, as much as my schedule allows, and practice discretion in how I try to address concerns. However, I cannot promise to keep every conversation strictly confidential, as I am obligated to report probable violations of the Amazon Code of Conduct and Ethics [1] in my position (including any discrimination, harassment, or retaliation of any reports of misconduct or concerns that are made in good faith by an employee).

[1] https://ir.aboutamazon.com/corporate-governance/documents-an...

As already repeated here, unionize or find someone with the leadership capable of leading one. As an individual you may not have much power, but a group of AWS engineers collectively unionizing and protesting within the company is a powerful force to be reckoned with.

I think the only way to change Amazon's behavior is to hit them where it hurts: their bottom line. Right now these practices continue to be profitable - there are no consequences - and even among other giant corporations, Amazon stands out as worshipping profits at all other costs. I'm confident that no amount of internal advocation/culture-shifting will change that. The incentives have to be realigned.

So what to do in your position?

You could quit and encourage others to do so. However, a lot of people would have to quit over this issue for it to start registering on management's radar, so that might not be very effective.

The other major option I think is whistleblowing/bringing attention to the issue/garnering bad press for the company. This is what Tim Bray did, but there are other ways of going about it. You could organize a protest along with your coworkers, for example. However, there's probably nothing you can do that wouldn't expose you to risk. And Amazon has shown how it deals with dissenters.

What I would do personally is start looking for another job, and once I have a contract signed, then do something bridge-burning like organizing a protest or writing a blog post or whatever.

Why not create a mobile app to allow all amazon workers to communicate and organize anonymously.

Could create an amazon-whistleblower subreddit, where people can post and shame managers on reddit, though might break the doxxing rules of reddit. So maybe create your own platform and create subs for different groups w/in amazon.

I'd do it all anonymously or get someone else to do it for you in their name who has no connections to you...

I'm actually wanting to create a platform like this...if I had time/money to do so. Think something like talkyard closer to reddit though w/ nested sub reddits... so you could have like a reddit for Farm Animals and under it Farm Animals > Goats, Farm Animals > Cows, and Farm Animals would show all posts from Farm Animals, Goats, and Cows..and even Goats > Baby Goats.

The goal is to use it for managing unions actually, allowing thought on issues of governance, question/answers, suggestions, and other 'types' of content blocks but I'm one dev, and not the best on frontend tech, though I'm full-stack/vue I always get caught up w/ the minute details.

I'm inclined to say that you're better off finding ways to organize outside of the context of work. Big corporations aren't going to change until there's an organized worker's movement in the US that can pressure the government to pass laws. Pressuring a single corporation to (appear to) change their policies is a losing game. You don't have to be as ambitious as trying to affect national politics, but maybe get involved in political activism in your city.

As an AWS employee I doubt there's a ton you can do to influence Amazon's physical product side. What you could do is try to influence AWS to stop being the backbone for ICE and DHS's extremely cruel deportation policies. Since I went to an AWS Summit in NYC and walked through protesters shouting "Cut ties with ICE"[1] I've done my best to divest myself from AWS solutions, though it's slow going. Get AWS more employees to stand up to AWS over ICE and DHS.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/12/no-tech-i...

Unionize! Anyone can join/form a union, and I think in the US it's illegal to fire you because you are involved in a union.

i think what Tim Bray did was best. As an engineer there you are a resource that is enabling this machine. The best way to stop the machine and get noticed is to stop output.

Until AWS realizes their refusal to take action will erode both their bottom line and their talent pool, nothing will change.

change needs leaders!

Amazon is not cruel because of evil in someone's heart that manifests itself in the form of intentionally creating harsh workplace conditions. It is a situation arising out of the dilemma of profits vs employee welfare in the context of difficult circumstances.

Most folks here will probably suggest some kind of antagonistic approach like unionizing, etc. but I think it is a better approach to try and figure out a profitable way to have employee welfare in these circumstances.

You can assign some monetary figure to the current situation by factoring the PR, the escalating tension and perhaps an inevitable revolt. See if that money can be spent in a way that can create a long-lasting operations improvement that makes the employees' jobs easier and adds layers of operational efficiency or redundancy.

To do that you'd have to dive deep into the specifics of the situation and understand the motivations of all the competing interests at play, with the goal of coming up with a solution that makes everyone a little happier. I saw a few comments here that talked about going and volunteering at the warehouse to understand things better. That would be a great start.

Taking care of employees needs to start with the business continuity planning department [1]. Usually either in Operations or Finance. Find them and talk to them. Ideally they should already be doing it. Disruptions to fulfillment due to outbreaks and mass sickness should a priority for them. And Amazon of all orgs has the ability to supply it's workers with PPE (they're already reserving high-quality PPE on their site for medical and essential workers).

Worst case scenario is they've decided it's cheaper to risk an outbreak in their fulfillment centers and just fire the sick employees and hire replacements from among the ~30million newly jobless, even accounting for the expense of resulting lawsuits. If that's the case, not much you can do besides quit or put together a class action lawsuit (or join one of the existing ones).

But if that's not the case, then maybe you'll learn something useful from them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_continuity_planning

What you can get done in large orgs depends fully on your network. Without a network you don't have influence.

All the people with influence in the org can be ranked in importance by how large their networks are, and how strong their links with others are within those networks.

So start building a network or find someone who does it well and help them. The kind of people who can pull stuff off are influential in one large group or have a connect with many small group. So find them or learn how to be them. It takes __time__ and lot of __work__.

People like to believe there is some quick shortcut to gaining and exerting influence. Understandable because these days networks can spontaneously emerge with just a single post or pic or tweet going viral. But these spontaneous forming networks are ephemeral. They can loose their structure and integrity as quickly as they gain them. The powers that be know this and just have to buy time till it happens.

So there are no shortcuts. Problems like the one you want to solve will keep showing up. This is not the first time or last time you are going to encounter this stuff. But if you want to influence outcomes, you have to do the work of building your network.

Just like building skills, connections, resources to fix software issues. If you haven't built those up over time you can't just show up and say I just wish I could do something about this bug.

And last point, as you build up influence pick small bugs you know you and your group can fix first. Prove to yourself and the group you can get it done. Only then pick more complex bugs.

People who pick the complex stuff first get stuck in a trap. With complex stuff there is always someone else to blame, and that takes focus away from whether you and your group have built up enough skill to be working on the bug in the first place.

I assume you're in the US? If you were in Europe (e.g. France or Germany) I would recommend to join a worker union, as they have larger leverage against companies and can (often) protect you against direct retaliation (though I've heard that union members will be "shadowbanned" from rising too high in most organizations).

Here in Germany Amazon fights vigorously against further unionization in its warehouses, I think that's a good indication that they're actually concerned about the union and see them as a threat (which is good).

I'm not very familiar with the union situation in the US but from my limited knowledge it seems they are less strong there, which really is a shame. Maybe you can donate some money to one though and support them so they can be more effective in their fight? Here in Europe most unions are not very tech-savvy so they are really happy to get help from people that are good with technology. Good luck!

You want to do the right thing, and that’s commendable, but you have to recognize that you may not have enough information, particularly as a virtual outsider, to force your own management decisions in this case. It may seem like Amazon is being greedy here, but they creating many jobs that otherwise wouldn’t exist for people who live on the margins of the economy. And by driving down costs, they’re driving down prices. That may not matter too much for you, but it matters a lot to most people.

Look, there could be adverse effect from what you’re trying to do. The going narrative is that Amazon is evil and is just abusing it’s workforce. I doubt work is great in a FC, but there are plenty of worse jobs out there that don’t get as much attention. And just imagine what it’s like working in most other parts in the work. For many people around there world, a FC job would be a dream.

(Probably a dangerous idea and don't suggest you actually do this, but if I was to put on my black hat...)

I think the most impactful thing you can do is try to harm productivity by wasting engineering time and resources.

Anonymously post a manifesto about how AWS employees are organizing to maliciously waste time, introduce bugs into the AWS codebase and otherwise cause downtime and degradation of services because of FC issues. Bring it to as many managers as would be inconspicuous saying, "Hey, it looks like some coworkers are trying to damage the business and waste time because of FC issues, thought this should be on your radar." - begin sowing distrust. Use your inside knowledge to make the threat appear credible, but coming from a different team. Say they are planning to:

Report bugs introduced by your most talented coworkers as potential acts of malicious sabotage or cybersecurity threats. Report and escalate every minor security policy violation you see to the highest level possible - over-applying policies in places where there is ambiguity but it is not technically necessary. Ignore the errors of and speak highly of coworkers that are ineffective and/or make many errors. Start pedantic-but-seemingly-reasonable arguments in code reviews. Accuse other coworkers raising valid concerns of being pedantic, unreasonable, impractical, yagni, yak shaving etc. Try to get people to hold unnecessary meetings on issues that don't require one - ideally where you don't have to attend.

You don't have to actually do any of these things, just act concerned and warn coworkers and managers to keep an eye out for these malicious behaviors. If you could convince management that 2% of their AWS workforce was attempting to engage in these behaviors, it would create a culture of distrust that would waste huge amounts of resources tracking down false leads and dealing with unfounded accusations - and the existence of the meme in the culture would likely inspire some jaded engineers to actually engage in some of these behaviors without direct coordination.

It is commendable you want to make a change in the world.

Unless you are essentially famous though, I’m not sure that as a regular Amazon employee you carry much more weight than someone campaigning directly in FC, or someone external campaigning for better worker relations and employee rights.

In fact, because of who you work for, it’s going to be much harder and messier than most for you to objectively campaign on this issue. Not only could you get fired, you could lose any chance of a good reference and generate quite a lot of ill will with folk you’ll encounter in your career later on.

In all honesty you might find it better to put your energy into another issue. You can have just as much impact without compromising your current working relationship, and without being accused of double standards: biting the hand that feeds you.

Unionise.

Unless you can directly band co-workers together and voice your position collectively do nothing and keep your head down. It's not worth losing your job over.

I know it sounds cynical but the only way you can get managerial attention is if it hurts workers productivity (like the Google walkout two years ago) or if you can hurt their bottom line. If you go at it alone you'll barely get the right kind of awareness. See what happened to James Damore when he went against the machine solo. Irrespective of your views on his stance his exit gives a flavour of how things could go.

What you could do anonymously is help workers organise their protests, help them circumvent AMZN s in-built policies that prevent this.

I want you to succeed but at the same time needlessly falling on your sword helps noone.

Vote out republicans. Not just the president but every Midterm, local election. Encourage others to mobilize to elect a blue Senator.

Go work at the warehouse after your day job? So you can see what the problems are from your perspective as an engineer ...

Hey awscompassion, I am not surprised that you tried expressing concerns with internal management and were ignored... the only things that have gotten movement from Amazon (on climate change, warehouse worker safety) were actions taken by employees that did not follow Amazon's verified™ feedback mechanisms. A few people have been retaliated against, but thousands more have taken action and have so far been safe in their numbers.

In Tim's Blog post he talks about Amazon Employees for Climate Justice as an organization of corporate Amazon workers he supports. You should reach out to them, either DM them on twitter (https://twitter.com/AMZNforClimate) or their gmail (amazonemployeesclimatejustice@gmail.com).

It's true, 2 of their leaders were fired by Amazon which was a big reason Tim quit AWS. The firings might scare you. If it does, Amazon is getting exactly what it wants ... scaring away other employees who care about other humans by only having to fire two vocal dissidents. If you want change to happen, if you REALLY, ACTUALLY feel compassion and want change, you can't allow yourself to be intimidated and bullied by anti-labor forces within Amazon.

But besides the 2 members who were fired, there are many more sympathizers who are organizing for both warehouse worker safety and climate action who have not been fired. There are lots of things you can do through AECJ with varying levels of power/risk/exposure, including actions that would be very low-risk for retaliation by Amazon. Get in touch with them and make a difference!

It's like chess, they won't move where you want them to move, until you force them to move there. How do you force them to move?

Strikes are a historical way of doing it. It forces them to move, but only after exhausting all other possibilities. Study the early history of the creation of unions in the US. You might be surprised to discover it was extremely violent, typically coming from the corporations. This violence typically occurred after the union was successfully formed and in operation.

The first trick with unionizing a non union company, because the US political parties have turned their back on them for the last 50 or so years, is undetected coordination. Companies will discover union leaders and remove them from the equation. Some companies will sense a union forming and close the entire operation and move it to a new location with new employees. They will also add plants posing as workers but really reporting to management. Also, the threat of moving the factory overseas is an overpowering factor for the company.

The end goal is strike, or at least show you have the ability to strike. That is the move that forces the company to at least think about moving where you want them to. To strike, you need to coordinate and early on, it needs to be undetected.

A really valuable starting point for this question of organizing is to talk to someone who is a labor expert. They can share strategies, ramifications, safety protocols, etc. and can think with you about how this applies to your situation. Organizations like Tech Workers Coalition (TWC), Boston Tech Workers for Justice (BTWJ) and the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) can all be valuable groups to reach out to for this support.

What if you started collecting data to show your bosses that Amazon’s treatment of FC workers is starting to impact the AWS business? For example, I’ve long since stopped ordering from Amazon because of the way they treat warehouse workers but I still used AWS. A few weeks ago I decided to quit AWS, too. Not because of any issue with AWS but because I don’t want to give any money to Amazon.

Switching platforms is a bit like switching cellphone providers or a bank - the customers are “sticky” and will put up with a lot because the transition is a giant pain in the ass. I’m just one small player but I’m sure there are others. And the longer Amazon fights against treating their employees like humans the more collateral damage there will be to all of the Amazon brands.

I wish it were as easy as appealing to management to do the “right thing” but sometimes it helps to show people there’s something in it for them, too. If AWS management knows their otherwise well-run division is taking collateral damage because of bad warehouse PR they might be moved to lend their voices to the cause as well. Make the warehouse worker problems AWS management problems, so to speak.

One option is to get closer to the problem.

Fulfillment Tech org just threw away their OP2 (Operational plan) for the year and have a huge number of new priorities to help FC associates in light of the covid situation.

I really respect Tim Bray and the step he's taken. But unless you're willing to take that kind of step, no one in the upper echelon will give a care what you do or say. And even then, probably only if you're an L8 or higher.

Talk to your colleagues.

There are internal mailing-lists for employees who care about this, as well as environmental issues. The lists also have plenty of people who are only there to sneer and astroturf; being on the list is unlikely to get you into trouble.

A much less useful but worthwhile activity is participating in Amazon shareholder meetings and voting on resolutions, and perhaps more importantly, encouraging your colleagues to do the same.

I don't think leaving Amazon is the answer. As an outsider, it is encouraging to know there are insiders who want change. Amazon is not going anywhere. It will continue to be part of our society. If all the good employees like you leave, they will be replaced with soulless employees and could make the problem worse. Do your job and push for change as much as you can without getting fired.

Knowledge isn't just power anymore, learning how to use knowledge is power.

Amazon appears to be restricting the less economically privileged class of their society from having access to knowledge to delay, defer and downplay changes. It's reminiscent of other larger societies that have done the same.

If factory workers don't have access to the knowledge and support that you do, they can't use it. Put your higher salary into indirect/external workforce education targeting warehouse workers. Put together information, pay for some ads, target Amazon employees, you and others can likely reach their phones.

If Costco can pay and treat their people well.. why not anyone else.

I've certainly curtailed my Amazon spend, and other technology leaders I know have done so personally too over the past year. Covid has accelerated other retailers opening up their online services and I look forward to seeing what that brings.

Prepare to be fired.

By this I mean, build yourself a safety net. Save money explicitly for a period of unemployment. Build relationships that could turn into new jobs. Document your work well to protect against claims of poor performance. Depending on how serious you are, reach out discretely to a lawyer.

There is a dangerous narrative that reformers are brave soldiers throwing themselves on hand-grenades. This is not how reform comes about. Careful planning, preparation and timing all go into making effective change.

The tipping points often do require sacrifice but not impulsive sacrifice.

The names and acts we remember are often just one of numerous similar acts by people who have practiced and prepared.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/04/9

by not working for amazon

Work with Amazon Robotics to automate them out of a job. It's only a matter of time anyway.

Have we considered that maybe we should take a personal responsibility in improving other people’s lives, rather than a corporate one?

Why not find a factory worker with a family and offer him or her a portion of your salary?

You have two options: what Tim Bray did, or organize so that you have more leverage. The second way is probably more effective (there are plenty of developers willing to take over your comfy job at AWS who don't care about anyone but themselves and having a cushy job, so unless a lot of devs quit they're not likely to care), but it's also the harder and longer way. The Communication Workers of America do a great union organizers training, try reaching out to them.

Try and get Amazon workers to unionize.

That might bring something.

Might be an unpopular opinion, but HN may not be the best place to get advice. HN is its own bubble of existence. I love it, and I trust its advice on anything tech, but not something like this. It just isn't a core competency. We tend to look at the world with extreme lenses, either banana republic or absolute dictatorship.

Buy them beer. If they are having trouble communicating among themselves then meeting at some outside neutral location to discuss collective action is the best thing they can do. Giving the bartender $500 for some drinks will sure help make their gatherings more popular.

Once this virus business is no longer affecting bars that is.

I would strongly encourage you NOT to quit. There will basically always be people who take your place. Tech workers at Amazon have unique leverage to change the company that no external groups do. I work at Amazon and I'd rather you stay and fight the good fight!

Without getting fired? ... you need to trust your coworkers and cripple operations with a "blue flu" for a day or two. You (theoretically) can't get fired for being sick but you'd better be pretty careful to organize this anonymously.

The person you need to convince is Bezos, if you manage that, no other person at amazon can can override it.

That being said, better working conditions is relative, I'm pretty sure amazon warehouse working condition is better than working in factory in china.

I've met other AWS software engineers who are asking themselves the same question. If you want to organize chances are that lots of other people want to do it as well. You should start off by talking to some of your coworkers.

Not that I'm advising you to do this but the most impactful thing you would be able to do would be to use your access to find non-public information about labor abuses etc. and leak it publically.

Organize! Start a union! (or more likely, get illegaly fired by Amazon for attempting to organize)

Find a lawyer first and be ready to go to the press & to court when they fire you for union activity.

Union. That's the only answer. Workers of any kind and level have little to no leverage. Only a union can get that leverage.

You should first recognize that you have virtually nothing on the line here.

You are part of an elite, high-income managerial class that is insulated from pesky things like "working conditions". Sending an email to your manager or liking a post on Facebook is meaningless.

If you're sincere you'll actually risk something to stand for your principles. Demand that conditions meaningfully change or find employment at a place that doesn't make the world a worse place to live.

Amazon pays their warehouse workers more than competitors. All the negative reporting about them seem to ignore this fact.

https://www.shopify.ca/careers

Line up a new job and resign along with respectfully explaining your reasoning, ideally publicly.

This is how I read the 'real' question: ---------------------------------------

"I am conflicted about recent Amazon events and the departure of a high level executive.

However I do not have the same convictions and fortitude as Tim Bray. How can I rationalize staying at Amazon without feeling bad about my decision?

I really like the : people I work with/pay/perks/other."

A bit harsh possibly.

Solidarity through unionization.

you can quit and write the reason in exit interview. I think thats most you can do.

> Ideally without getting fired.

Well that’s not really possible. By definition “things that take a moralistic stand against existing company practices” is equivalent to “fireable violation of policy” - it’s Moral Mazes 101.

To be in good standing with a large bureaucratic employer is to either explicitly agree or tacitly decline to disagree with the company’s existing practices. Any deviation is defined as problematic behavior.

The only thing that will cause change is if Amazon is legally required to change or else loses profits unless it changes - and in the latter case that may not be enough because people already very rich may not value that lost profit as highly as they value authoritarian control, sociopathic delight in debasing other people, or just digging their heels in against external forces mandating change.

It’s also unlikely that tech workers quitting will do much. Amazon can restaff in a zillion different ways and at this point could hire more mediocre talent and function in more of a maintenance mode and continue to be successful for a long time.

Don't fight AWS nor Amazon. Instead use the money you earn there for good, build your own "nonprofit" that does what you perceive to be good. Don't try to change others or force them to your "ideology", esp. if it's the source of income you depend on.

Honestly, STFU or leave like Tim Bray! Join the ACLU! :D

Don't be a schmuck, fight for their rights!

I'd rather work for Facebook than AWS.

Exercise your shareholder right to vote.

more vacation days

What are the bad working conditions? Someone showed me some petition signed by 8000 Amazon employees, but the petition was mostly about climate change, no bad working conditions.

Is there somewhere these bad conditions are documented?

I think such clear, public documentation would go a long way to changing conditions.

Create a logic bomb in the AWS servers that turn off all fans while overloading the CPUs, at the same time as you make the servers send out false reports saying that temperatures are normal. That will get their attention.

Why campaign, when you have the power to do something? If your not willing to use the power you have, then I think you should quit and do something useful with your life. Asking them to change, while still supporting them is pathetic.