Amazon Purportedly Bans Pro-Union Words From Its New Social App, Leading To Memes About Supposed Leak

According to a purported leak, Amazon has banned a number of words from a company-wide social media app that it is in development, provoking outrage online and prompting memers to do what they do best.

I can promise you that amazon banning these words/phrases from their company chat app just radicalized a bunch of workers who were on the fence about needing a union lmao pic.twitter.com/c2KrnvFCXC

— abby (@abby4thepeople) April 5, 2022

Many detected a whiff of dystopia in the list of banned words and sardonically forecasted what their futures under the Amazon regime might look like.

It’s 2028, I’m in my Amazon mood boost booth, injecting Amazon speed as I pee in Amazon relief briefs. I check my rebreather mask & quickly type “i love president bezos” into Twitla (elon musk twitter) via my Amazon work-social portal. I get 800 epics, which I exchange for oxygen

— Diana (@rlycalm) April 4, 2022

It’s 2028. I work from the comfort of my Venmo housing pod. I am unconscious 80% of the time, hooked up via intravenous cables to Twitla’s VR component (the Musk-verse). From my virtual cubicle, I comment on Diana’s tweet earning 200 epics I exchange for walks and solid food.

— Annie Rose’s Revenge 🩸 (@GirlsGutsGiallx) April 5, 2022

Reportedly, the list of banned words includes not only “union” but also “freedom,” “ethics” and “plantation.” These are all words and phrases that employees could potentially use to organize and critique management. Amazon has come under fire for workplace practices in the past, including that it doesn't allow sufficient bathroom breaks to employees.

When you’re making your banned word list and you include ‘freedom’ and ‘ethics’ maybe it’s time for a moment of reflection https://t.co/0i7VaT2IMF

— Hari Kunzru (@harikunzru) April 4, 2022

Welcome to my extremely normal job at Amazon, the safest workplace on earth. We are a family here, we are on the same team. Please make sure you don't say the following words or else "The Sniper" will show up pic.twitter.com/sgeNbkGx4T

— Edward Ongweso Jr (@bigblackjacobin) April 4, 2022

Amazon’s plan to introduce the app is reportedly part of an ongoing effort to “gamify” the workspace and bring the company culture even more significantly into the lives of its workers.

The good thing is that "pee" and "bottles" are not on the Amazon banned word list https://t.co/MZxZD2sarc

— Ryan Mac 🙃 (@RMac18) April 5, 2022

The move to ban words from the app comes the same week that the first Amazon union, located in New York City, was formed. Union organizers won a vote among workers at a Staten Island Amazon facility 2,654 to 2,131. Amazon reportedly spent millions of dollars in an effort to prevent the union’s formation. A previous Amazon union election in Bessemer, Alabama that the union lost will also get a redo after the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) ruled that Amazon “illegally interfered” with the results.

If you ever doubt your power as a lone worker, remember that Amazon spent $1 million in union busting costs per every worker-organizer on our campaign.

The power to connect with the people you work with and care about is the power to change the world.

Solidarity forever❤️#ALU

— Amazon Labor Union (@amazonlabor) April 1, 2022

"The union spent $120,000 overall, raised through GoFundMe, according to Mr. Smalls “We started this with nothing, with two tables, two chairs and a tent,” Amazon spent more than $4.3 million just on anti-union consultants nationwide last year…
https://t.co/VolOsFkokn

— Krystal Ball (@krystalball) April 3, 2022

The leader of the Staten Island Amazon Union effort, Chris Smalls, was fired from Amazon two years ago. Video clips of Smalls and others celebrating the union election victory by dancing and popping champagne spread widely around the internet over the weekend.

A fired Amazon worker being one of the leaders of establishing a union at Amazon should be wayy bigger news. Should be trending for days. I’m talking slap-worthy news. Highlight the bullshit but not when we leading fights, and winning, against hyper-capitalist entities.

— Charles Preston (@_CharlesPreston) April 2, 2022

Chris Smalls, fired from Amazon almost two years ago to the day, just popped champagne outside the NLRB offices where he and his peers won one of the greatest labor victories in a generation. “To the first Amazon union in history,” he said. pic.twitter.com/ZHNcjFC5N1

— Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) April 1, 2022

In my 25 years writing about labor, the unionization victory at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island is by far the biggest, beating-the-odds David versus Goliath unionization win I've seen

A fired Amazon worker took on Amazon's union busters & unionized a 5,000-worker warehouse https://t.co/5DniteClbL

— Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) April 1, 2022

The unionization of Amazon comes amid a growing tide of unionization efforts across the United States in many workplaces, everywhere from Starbucks to think tanks in Washington, D.C. These unionization efforts are mostly led by young, digitally fluent activist employees rather than professional organizers. The new unions have garnered support from progressive politicians like Bernie Sanders and seem to be operating from the same playbook as movements like Black Lives Matter. Over the past 40 years, union membership in the U.S. has steadily declined as income inequality has steadily increased, but these recent, headline-grabbing unionization actions have led many to wonder whether that may soon change.

Today's unionization of Amazon, with its many ripples, will do more for humanity than all the money Jeff Bezos is giving to charity.

Generosity is not a substitute for justice.

— Anand Giridharadas @ The.Ink (@AnandWrites) April 1, 2022