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posted by Fnord666 on Monday June 19 2017, @01:26PM   Printer-friendly
from the round-two dept.

According to Politico, heads of some tech companies will be meeting with the President on Monday. But the lower echelons of techdom are pushing back on engagement with the Trump administration.

The fraught relationship between the country's leading tech executives and President Donald Trump is about to get even more tense.

The latest uncomfortable moment arrives Monday, when top tech CEOs are expected to sit down with Trump at the White House to talk about modernizing government technology. Many of the companies have refused to confirm their attendance publicly, in a sign of how sensitive their dealings with the Trump administration have become in a liberal Silicon Valley that loathes his policies on issues like immigration and climate change.

Despite unease and rumblings from below, many are going to attend anyway.

Even so, executives from Google's parent Alphabet, IBM, Cisco and Oracle will be among those in attendance, as will billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel. Other corporate participants named in media reports include Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and possibly Facebook. Those four companies have all declined to comment on their plans despite repeated requests, and sources close to Alphabet and IBM only confirmed their participation Thursday. Companies declined to comment for this story.

Politico seems to think that tech workers have more clout with regard to the political activities of their bosses, an interesting point of view.

Indeed, as the leaders of multinational corporations, tech executives have a financial obligation to shareholders to engage the federal government, which sets key industry regulations and, in many cases, buys their products. Some, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, have expressed a moral and patriotic responsibility to weigh in on public policy matters where executives have expertise.

But now companies face growing pressure from their liberal employees and chunks of their customer base to resist the White House over its actions on immigration, climate change and transgender rights. And even though the CEOs have become more vocal in their criticism of Trump — over the Paris pullout, for example — their argument for continued engagement is becoming riskier as Trump's political agenda skews further and further away from the progressive worldview.

And that could have workforce implications. Technology workers, particularly engineers, hold special sway over their bosses compared to employees in other industries. They have in-demand technical skills that companies often struggle to find, and often have more leeway to speak their mind with less fear of reprisal.

So is it true that tech workers have more pull than the average corporate cog? Will this affect technology policy of the Untied States of America?


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  • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday June 19 2017, @04:49PM (5 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Monday June 19 2017, @04:49PM (#528000) Journal

    Despite your advanced (what is it, 2,330 by now?) age, Aristarchus, you don't seem to fathom the obvious.

    Politico's words, not mine, NotSang! You should not attack the messenger! And, human behavior under late capitalism is hardly the way humans have behaved for the vast majority of their existence on earth.

    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:05PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @05:05PM (#528015)

    Sorta, human behavior has remained somewhat consistent as far as greed and power goes. Capitalism has simply abstracted the rewards into complicated financialese that makes it easier to pull the wool over everyone's eyes so we think it is the pinnacle of achievement instead of a modern version of kingdoms / fiefdoms.

    The CEO is king/queen, the shareholders are the royal court, and the workers are the unwashed masses. The other people? The consumers? They are the cattle milked and slaughtered for their juicy banking account numbers.

  • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday June 19 2017, @05:06PM (3 children)

    Despite your advanced (what is it, 2,330 by now?) age, Aristarchus, you don't seem to fathom the obvious.

    Politico's words, not mine, NotSang! You should not attack the messenger! And, human behavior under late capitalism is hardly the way humans have behaved for the vast majority of their existence on earth.

    This bit:

    Despite unease and rumblings from below, many are going to attend anyway.

    Is not from TFA. Are they not your words? Or did the editors insert that line?

    --
    No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday June 19 2017, @05:36PM (2 children)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Monday June 19 2017, @05:36PM (#528044) Journal

      This bit:

      Despite unease and rumblings from below, many are going to attend anyway.

      Is not from TFA. Are they not your words? Or did the editors insert that line?

      NotSang goes in for the squeeky-tight literal? I thought that was more a paraphrase of

      But now companies face growing pressure from their liberal employees

      than an opinion expressed on my own part.
      .
      But never mind that now. What is your point, oh sticklerly NotSanguine?

      • (Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Monday June 19 2017, @06:48PM (1 child)

        But never mind that now. What is your point, oh sticklerly NotSanguine?

        Put down that jug of wine and get your hands (and other parts) off the goats, Aristarchus.

        I already made my point in my original post. Literacy is *not* overrated.

        --
        No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @08:58PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 19 2017, @08:58PM (#528146)

          You have mastered literacy, now how about basic analysis / critical thinking? Or maybe you just have extreme OCD which makes you need everything defined to pinpoint accuracy?