The following is not legal advice, it's just my opinion. DYOR, check with a lawyer, etc.

"Do you want to relocate or resign?" is a false dichotomy. You can always just refuse to answer (possibly with soft words like ""I'm not sure" or "I haven't decided yet") -- keep doing your job, and wait until the company lets you go.

I'm pretty sure, if a company moves its operations and your job no longer exists in the same location, you're entitled to unemployment benefits -- but not if you resign.

The "Relocate or resign" phrasing seems to be trying to trick the affected employees into giving up their rights to unemployment benefits.

At this point long commutes just seem a waste of time (and I know a number of people in the Seattle area who are forced into long commutes by Amazon only to do most remote meetings once they arrive).

Sometimes I do think the ideal job would be a medium-sized company with an office within walking distance of everyone's home. When everyone in the office is aligned on the same thing it's really great to be in-person. I don't think this holds for a giant organization like Amazon.

Why do these companies keep trying to fire remote employees? Is it so hard to let them keep working from home? Is the company's real estate portfolio that important? You could probably even pay remote workers less (or give non-remote employees a "bonus" for coming in) and everyone would still be happy.

As I’ve written in the past, companies that tolerate or even encourage WFH will have advantages when it comes to hiring (or retaining) older workers or workers with professional partners. If young bodies are what’s desired, yeah, do the cattle call. If skill and experience matters or there’s any talent availability issues they’re limiting their hiring pool.

Read up on "constructive dismissal" and talk with an employment lawyer.

I thought Amazon had already cut WFH? Who is left that they are messaging?

The US road system is a HUGE subsidy to companies by enabling employees to commute long distances. If companies bore the commute costs of worker commutes they would be MUCH more in favor of remote work.

What's the difference between resign and layoff :)

This is just another soft layoff.

Amazon has been aggressively reducing headcount for several years now. First they did multiple rounds of actual layoffs, then they ended remote work, and now you have to relocate to live near a hub office.

Mass resignations accomplish the same as layoffs but are much cheaper for Amazon due to not paying severance.

What about CO2?

Move to the locations where the non-compete laws are more favorable to Amazon.

Do people remember during Covid how it was a “remote work revolution” and how it was going to cause sweeping changes to how people worked and how the economy functioned?

Pepperidge Farms remembers…

Not to toot my own horn or even make a pretty obvious prediction, my HN history has a comment from years ago predicting pretty much exactly what happened.

Companies would do it as long as they needed to. Once they knew they had more people than positions it would be a slow squeeze and eventual “come in to the office or quit”.

It's unclear from the article, but it seems like these people were hired near an office, (stupidly) moved away during covid, and now don't want to return. I have sympathy for them, but also it seems stupid to have thought remote work would last longer than covid.