内容来源：https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/952180/amazon-seattle-data-center-moratorium-aecj-disciplinary-action

内容总结：

亚马逊三名软件工程师因支持数据中心监管遭公司调查，指控雇主违反西雅图市政治言论保护法

本月早些时候，三名亚马逊软件工程师在西雅图市议会就数据中心议题作证时，首先援引了该市禁止雇主因政治言论进行就业歧视的法律。如今，他们指控雇主违反该法，对他们实施报复。

6月10日，即听证会一周后、市议会通过具有里程碑意义的数据中心建设暂停令次日，帕特里克·施洛瑟、达瑞斯·伊拉尼和莉斯尔·维甘德三人分别被临时叫去与亚马逊“员工关系”部门开会。人力资源代表告知公司正对他们进行调查，并称可能面临包括解雇在内的纪律处分。周四，三人向西雅图民权办公室提起法律投诉，指控亚马逊实施非法就业歧视。

“我不愿接受亚马逊或任何公司能因我行使权利而让我闭嘴的现实，”施洛瑟接受采访时表示，“我们不会退缩。”

亚马逊发言人玛格丽特·卡拉汉回应称：“员工可以自由谈论工作环境，但我们有政策禁止未经程序代表公司发言……我们正在调查是否存在违规行为，将根据调查结果采取或不采取行动。重要的是，我们不容忍报复行为。”她还否认公司有计划解雇这些员工，称“说我们计划解雇员工或告知他们有被解雇风险，这也是不准确的。”

此前，西雅图正式实施为期一年的大型数据中心建设暂停令，搁置新提案，同时市议会考虑立法为城市争取更多利益，并研究数据中心对土地使用、公共卫生、用水、就业、水电费率及基础设施等的影响。本月早些时候，许多当地居民出席市议会听证会支持数据中心监管，包括这五名亚马逊员工在内的五人都是“亚马逊员工气候正义组织”（AECJ）成员。

去年，该组织发布了由1000多名亚马逊员工签署的公开信，敦促亚马逊全部数据中心使用100%额外本地可再生能源。施洛瑟回忆，他在视频会议中接到HR电话时，距一场设计评审会议不到半小时，对方询问他此前在市议会说了什么。他当即感到“这地方对我不安全”，HR代表试图让他承认违反了公司沟通政策——未经批准不得代表亚马逊发言。但施洛瑟等人作证时仅表明了自己的职务和AECJ成员身份。

法律投诉称亚马逊违反了西雅图法律，要求民权办公室调查并采取补救措施。AECJ律师阿比·劳勒表示，西雅图是美国少数禁止雇主基于政治信仰和所属组织歧视员工的司法管辖区，“亚马逊正在做的——因员工倡导而调查并威胁其工作，正是法律所禁止的。”

AECJ发言人伊丽莎·潘强调：“亚马逊恐吓员工的行为是不公平、歧视性的用工做法，是对民主和法治的滥用。科技工作者必须能够表达和践行自己的信仰，不能任由CEO们碾压所有人。”

伊拉尼表示，他在市议会听证会上作证时称，数据中心建设的好处主要流向科技公司而非当地社区，“社区应该对数据中心基础设施的部署有发言权。”据《西雅图时报》报道，暂停令表决前两个月，有四家未具名公司提交了在市区建设五座大型数据中心的提案，总电力需求将达到西雅图日均用电量的三分之一，是现有数据中心用电量的10倍。

针对大范围数据中心建设的投诉近期频繁登上新闻，涉及噪音、用水、电价上涨等问题，在亚马逊和微软总部所在的西雅图大都会区尤为突出。施洛瑟坦言，因发声遭报复并不意外：“亚马逊营造了一种恐惧文化——通过裁员、绩效改进计划、强制排名和无情的人员流失指标——如果你连日常分内工作都担心失去饭碗，就很难越雷池一步去公开表达，哪怕这是受法律保护的言论。”

中文翻译：

本月早些时候，三名亚马逊软件工程师在西雅图市议会关于数据中心的听证会上作证时，首先援引了一项禁止因政治言论而实施雇佣歧视的城市法规。如今，他们指控雇主违反该法律，对他们进行报复。这些员工声称，因支持数据中心限制措施而面临解雇。在公开支持数据中心监管后，这些西雅图的维权人士表示被叫去与人力资源部门开会。

6月10日——听证会一周后，市议会通过具有里程碑意义的数据中心暂停令一天后——帕特里克·施勒瑟、达里乌斯·伊拉尼和莉斯尔·维甘德分别被临时叫去与亚马逊的“员工关系”部门开会。人力资源代表告知员工，公司正在对他们进行调查，并表示可能采取包括解雇在内的纪律处分。周四，三人提起法律申诉，要求西雅图民权办公室调查此事，指控亚马逊存在违禁的雇佣歧视行为。

“我不愿接受亚马逊或任何企业能让我在行使权利时沉默的现实，”施勒瑟在接受The Verge采访时表示，“我们不会退缩。”

当被问及评论时，亚马逊发言人玛格丽特·卡拉汉表示：“虽然我们的同事始终可以自由谈论工作环境，但我们有政策禁止未经特定程序以公司代表身份发言……我们正在调查是否存在违反政策的行为，并可能根据调查结果采取或不采取行动。值得注意的是，我们不容忍报复行为。”亚马逊还否认了“已有解雇员工计划”的说法。卡拉汉称：“说我们计划解雇这些员工，或告知他们有解雇风险，这也是不准确的。”

此消息发布前不久，西雅图正式颁布了一项针对大型数据中心的一年暂停令，在议员们考虑立法为城市争取更多利益并研究数据中心对土地使用、公共卫生、用水、就业、公用事业费率、城市基础设施等影响期间，暂停新提案审批。本月早些时候，许多当地居民出席西雅图市议会听证会，支持数据中心监管和暂停令。其中包括施勒瑟、伊拉尼和维甘德在内的五名亚马逊员工。

这五人都是“亚马逊员工争取气候正义”（AECJ）的成员，该组织由现任和前任员工组成，致力于应对气候危机。去年，该组织发布了一封由1000多名亚马逊员工签署的公开信，敦促亚马逊为所有数据中心提供100%额外的本地可再生能源。

施勒瑟说，当他在Zoom上接到临时通话时，离设计评审会议还有不到半小时，他本来要向数十人展示一个已筹备数月之久的项目。他接起电话，发现是人力资源代表，对方询问他的行踪以及他在市议会听证会上的发言——他立刻感到“一种不祥的预感，觉得这里对我来说并不安全”。施勒瑟表示，代表“似乎在试图让我承认某些事”，尤其是因为事先毫无通知。他回忆说，代表声称他违反了亚马逊的企业沟通政策，该政策禁止未经事先批准以亚马逊发言人身份行事。但施勒瑟与其他在市议会作证的亚马逊员工一样，只表明了自己的职务和AECJ成员身份，而非“亚马逊软件工程师”。

施勒瑟表示，会议结束后他感到“有点惊骇”。他补充道：“我们都怀着一种愤慨和愤怒——在这家公司经历了这一切之后，我们只是发表了一个毫无争议的声明，作为西雅图市的员工行使政治言论权。”

伊拉尼告诉The Verge，他于6月9日收到人力资源部门的邮件，附有次日讨论“机密”事项的日历邀请。他说，代表询问了其他参加市议会听证会的亚马逊员工，他感觉“他们在等我承认做错了什么”。“离开会议时，我感到不安和自我怀疑，但与其他两位作证的AECJ成员交谈后，发现他们也有类似经历，我开始感到愤怒——因为我所做的只是表达观点，认为人工智能和数据中心应该受到监管，”伊拉尼说。

周四提交的法律申诉指控亚马逊违反西雅图法律，并要求民权办公室“调查这些指控，并采取一切必要行动，纠正亚马逊实施的任何非法歧视行为”。AECJ的顾问律师、Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt律所的艾比·劳勒在一份声明中表示，西雅图是“美国少数几个禁止私营雇主因员工政治信仰和所属组织而歧视他们的司法管辖区之一。这一保护让AECJ成员有信心在西雅图市议会前公开发言，支持本地数据中心和人工智能监管，并且它明确禁止亚马逊目前的行为——即因其倡导行为而调查并威胁解雇员工。”

“亚马逊试图恐吓我们成员的行为是一种不公平且歧视性的雇佣做法，”AECJ发言人伊丽莎·潘在一份声明中表示，“这是对我们民主和法治的滥用。科技工作者必须能够根据自己的信念发声和行动，这样CEO们就不能仅仅为了达成目的而碾压我们所有人。不能允许亚马逊恐吓其员工，如果他们得逞，我们所有人都应该担忧。”

伊拉尼表示，他密切关注全国范围内的数据中心建设，并相信正如许多人在市议会听证会上作证所说，收益主要流向了科技公司，而非当地居民。“看到社区被排除在外，并因这种建设方式面临诸多后果和伤害，我真的很生气，”他说，“社区应该对数据中心基础设施的部署有发言权。所以我很自豪能作证。”

据《西雅图时报》报道，在西雅图市议会就暂停令投票前两个月，四家未具名公司已提交了在市内建设五座大型数据中心的提案，这些数据中心合并后的最大电力需求相当于西雅图日均用电量的三分之一，并且用电量将是该市现有数据中心的10倍。

近几个月来，全国范围内对大型数据中心建设的愤怒情绪日益成为新闻焦点，投诉内容包括噪音水平、用水量、当地电价上涨等。该问题尤其令大西雅图都市区感到不安，亚马逊和微软的总部都设在那里。

施勒瑟表示，因公开发言而遭到报复并不完全出乎意料。“几乎从我入职开始，我就意识到亚马逊营造的这种恐惧文化——他们通过裁员、绩效改进计划、强制排名让我们相互竞争、无情淘汰员工来实现这一点，”他说，“如果你仅仅因为完成日常工作就害怕失去工作，那你就不太可能越雷池一步去做任何像公开发言这样的事。即使那是受法律保护的言论。”

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英文来源：

When three Amazon software engineers testified earlier this month at Seattle City Council hearings about data centers, they started their testimony by citing a city law barring employment discrimination over political speech. Now, they’re accusing their employer of breaking that law by retaliating against them.
Amazon employees say they’re facing termination for backing data center limits
After speaking up for regulation on data centers, Seattle activists say they were called into meetings with HR.
Amazon employees say they’re facing termination for backing data center limits
After speaking up for regulation on data centers, Seattle activists say they were called into meetings with HR.
On June 10th — one week after the hearing, and one day after the City Council passed a milestone moratorium on data centers — Patrick Schloesser, Darius Irani, and Liesl Wigand were each called into an impromptu meeting with Amazon’s “Employee Relations.” HR representatives told the employees that the company was investigating them and said there could be disciplinary action, up to and including termination. On Thursday, the three filed a legal complaint requesting that the Seattle Office for Civil Rights investigate the matter, alleging that Amazon engaged in prohibited employment discrimination.
“I am unwilling to accept a reality in which Amazon or any corporation can silence me in exercising my rights,” Schloesser told The Verge in an interview. “We’re not going to step back in line.”
When reached for comment, Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan said, “While our teammates are always free to talk about their working environment, we have policies against speaking as a representative of the company without following certain procedures … we’re investigating whether there was a violation of our policies and may or may not take action based on what we find. It’s important to note that we don’t tolerate retaliatory behavior. ”
Amazon also disputed the characterization that Amazon had plans in place to fire the employees. Callahan said, “It’s also inaccurate to say that we have plans to terminate these employees or told them they were at risk of termination.”
The news comes shortly after Seattle officially enacted a one-year moratorium on large-scale data centers, tabling new proposals while council members consider legislation to award the city more benefits and request research on data center effects on land use, public health, water use, jobs, utility rates, city infrastructure, and more. Earlier this month, many local residents attended Seattle City Council hearings in support of data center regulations and the moratorium. Five Amazon employees — including Schloesser, Irani, and Wigand — were among them.
The five are all members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), a group of current and former employees dedicated to the climate crisis. Last year, the group published an open letter signed by more than 1,000 Amazon employees that urged Amazon to power all its data centers with 100 percent additional, local renewable energy.
Schloesser says that when he received a cold call over Zoom, he was less than half an hour away from a design review meeting, where he was set to show dozens of people a project he’d been working on for months. He answered the call to find an HR representative, who asked Schloesser about his whereabouts and what he’d said at the City Council meeting — and immediately got a “foreboding sense that this is not a safe place for me.” Schloesser said it felt like the representative “was trying to get me to admit to something,” particularly due to the lack of notice. He recalled the representative saying he violated Amazon’s corporate communications policy, which bans acting as a spokesperson for Amazon without preapproval. But Schloesser, like the other Amazon employees who testified at the City Council hearings, only identified himself by his role and his membership in AECJ — not, say, as a “software engineer at Amazon.”
Schloesser said he felt “kind of horrified” after the meeting. He added, “We all harnessed this sense of indignation and anger that after everything we’ve gone through at this company, and after making a very uncontroversial statement where we’re simply exercising our rights to speak out politically as employees in the city of Seattle.”
Irani told The Verge that he received an email from HR on June 9th, with a calendar event for the next day to discuss a “confidential” matter. He said the representative asked about other Amazon employees who had attended the City Council hearings and that he felt like “they were waiting for me to admit I had done something wrong.”
“I left this meeting feeling rattled and unsure of myself, but after speaking with the other two AECJ members who gave testimony, to find that they’d faced similar experiences, then I started feeling angry — because all I was doing was sharing my opinion that AI and data centers should be regulated,” Irani said.
The legal complaint filed Thursday alleges that Amazon violated Seattle law and requests that the Office for Civil Rights “investigate these allegations and take all necessary action to remedy any unlawful discrimination committed by Amazon.”
Abby Lawlor, AECJ’s counsel and an attorney at Barnard Iglitzin & Lavitt, said in a statement that Seattle is “one of just a few jurisdictions in the country that prohibits private employers from discriminating against their employees based on the political beliefs they hold and the organizations they belong to. This protection gave AECJ members confidence in speaking out before the Seattle City Council in favor of local data center and AI regulation, and it prohibits exactly what Amazon is doing now—investigating them and threatening their employment as a direct consequence of their advocacy.”
“Amazon’s attempts to intimidate our members is an unfair and discriminatory employment practice,” said AECJ spokesperson Eliza Pan in a statement. “It’s an abuse of our democracy and rule of law. Tech workers must be able to speak and act on their beliefs so that CEOs can’t just steamroll all of us to get what they want. Amazon can’t be allowed to intimidate its employees and we should all be worried if they succeed.”
Irani said that he’s closely followed the data center buildouts around the country and that he believes, as many people testified at the City Council hearings, that the benefits are going mostly to tech companies and not locals.
“It really makes me upset how communities have been excluded and are facing so many consequences and harms from how this buildout has been done,” he said. “Communities should have a say in how [data center] infrastructure is rolled out. So I was proud to testify.”
Two months before the Seattle City Council voted on the moratorium, four unknown companies had submitted proposals for five large-scale data centers within the city limits, which would, combined, have a maximum electricity demand that equaled one-third of Seattle’s average use on a given day — and would use 10 times more power than the city’s current number of data centers, according to The Seattle Times.
Nationwide outrage over the construction of giant data centers has increasingly made headlines in recent months, with complaints including noise levels, water usage, rising local electricity costs, and more. The issue has especially roiled the broader Seattle metropolitan area, where Amazon and Microsoft are both headquartered.
Schloesser said the retaliation for speaking out didn’t come as a total surprise. “Pretty much as soon as I started I was aware of this culture of fear that Amazon creates — they do it with layoffs, they do it with performance improvement plans, stack ranking us to compete against each other, unregretted attrition quotas,” he said. “If you’re afraid of losing your job just by doing the work that you’re expected to do day to day, you’re very unlikely to be willing to step out of line and do anything like speak out. Even if it’s legally protected speech.”
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