A well-known AWS VP and Distinguished Engineer has quit his job over Amazon firing coronavirus whistleblowers.
Tim Bray published his decision in an open letter on his website, outlining his reasons for leaving the company. Bray had worked at Amazon for over five years. Prior to that, he had worked at Google for four years. Bray says he âquit in dismay at Amazon firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19.â
The problems began with climate protests within the company last year, which Bray says resulted in protest leaders being threatened with dismissal. Things took a downhill turn with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, with workers complaining that not enough was being done to inform and protect them, despite official claims to the contrary.
Things escalated when âa worker organizing for better safety conditions was fired, and brutally insensitive remarks appeared in leaked executive meeting notes where the focus was on defending Amazon âtalking points.ââ
Within short order, individuals leading protests were fired using reasons that Bray called âlaughable.â He maintains that any objective observer could see the firings for what they wereâan attempt to silence whistleblowers.
âAt that point I snapped,â Bray continues. âVPs shouldnât go publicly rogue, so I escalated through the proper channels and by the book. Iâm not at liberty to disclose those discussions, but I made many of the arguments appearing in this essay. I think I made them to the appropriate people.
âThat done, remaining an Amazon VP would have meant, in effect, signing off on actions I despised. So I resigned.â
Mr. Brayâs entire post is well worth a read. He has praise for AWS division and how it treats its employees, while making the point that the elite status of AWS workers necessitates better treatment. In contrast, the relatively low-paid warehouse workers donât have the same power or platform to demand proper treatment.
Whatever one thinks of Amazon, whistleblowers or even Mr. Bray, one must admire a man willing to stand up for what he believes inâeven at great cost to himself.