Google Will Not Play Baseball with a Mere Nation State
September 29, 2020
DarkCyber spotted an interesting article called “Google Slams Arbitration System in Australia’s New Media Code.” We have heard that Googlers are fans of college basketball, specifically the NCAA tournament. And some Googlers are true fans of cricket. Baseball? Those crazy rules. No thanks.
The write up reports:
The system being proposed is called ‘binding final-offer arbitration’, referred to in the US as ‘baseball arbitration’.
DarkCyber thinks baseball arbitration works like this:
- Side A and Side B cannot agree
- Each side writes up a best and final offer
- An objective entity picks one
- The decision is binding.
Google’s view is that the system is not fair. The write up includes this passage:
Google said it is happy to negotiate fairly and, if needed, see a standard dispute resolution scheme in place. “But given the inherent problems with ‘baseball arbitration’, and the unfair rules that underpin it here, the model being proposed isn’t workable for Google”. [The Google voice is that of Mel Silva, VP, Google Australia and New Zealand.
The issue seems to be that a US company is not going to play ball with a country. Which is more important for citizens of Australia?
Google appears to adopt the position that its corporate interests override the nation state’s. The country — Australia in this case — seems to hold the old fashioned, non Silicon Valley view that its interests are more important.
DarkCyber believes that Googlers will perceive Australia’s intransigence as “not logical.” Google is logical as evidenced by this article “Alphabet Promises to No Longer Bung Tens of Millions of Dollars to Alleged Sex Pest Execs Who Quit Mid-Probe.” Logical indeed.
Stephen E Arnold, September 29, 2020
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