It's so important to keep this in mind.

50 comments

This sounds like what HR wants you to think about your colleagues. Can’t organise if can’t trust your colleagues.
- I am organized and I still am leery.
- You don't need to trust your coworkers to organize. And they will take advantage of you if you work their shift etc and often will not reciprocate. You can acknowledge that coworkers aren't your friends while understanding that organizing is good for everyone. If someone is gonna try to sabotage your attempts at organizing that's just how it is but there's no reason to trust a coworker to pay you back. Also, I'm sorry but if you're putting people at risk I don't care how friendly you act to me I'm reporting you.
- It is still true though.
  
  The truth is that all your coworkers are not automatically your friends. You CAN become genuinely good friends with some though.

Sounds like you work somewhere shitty. Most of my coworkers mind their own business because they are too busy working to do anything else. Only time I’ve seen people “snitch” was to throw poor management under the bus, or corroborate sexual harassment complaints. And I’m not going to complain about that.

And HR people can never be trusted to be on your side on any issue. Never, ever confide in an HR person, getting rid of you in some way is always the easiest solution to any problem.
Only when you first take outside council and then go to HR through them, do you have some sort of protection from getting swept under the rug.
- HR are the work police.
- Exactly. It's no different than never, ever, EVER saying a word to the ~~capital defense force~~ police(in the US). Nothing good and only bad can come of it. The rare honest US cop will tell you that themselves, when they aren't busy beating a minority/homeless person senseless and planting drugs on them, at least.
  That is what HR is, your office cop. Anything you say can and will be used against you.
  
  Ok, counterpoint.
  As a white-passing clearly upper middle class person, I have been in situations where I just told the cop exactly what I was doing and why I was there, and got told "well you can't be here now, go home". It helped that I wasn't up to anything illicit, but the determining factor was my Pantone ranking and grooming.
  If I'd said "I won't say anything to you without a lawyer", I probably would have been in for a lot of hassling.
  I'm not saying "be respectful and it'll be good" or any of that bullshit (got biracial kids, that isn't the talk I'm going to have).
  The bit from formerly-funny Dave Chappele where the white guy tells the cop "I'm sorry, I didn't know I couldn't do that" has a chunk of truth in it.
- Awesome generalization. This is so wholly dependent on the country, company, HR policy and HR person, that it's a pretty useless statement.
  
  While it is a generalization, HR is there to represent the company, not you. Good HR personnel will do their best to accommodate both... but their job is on the line if they cause harm to the company by supporting you instead.
  It's not good to just assume that everyone in certain positions is an evil ghoul who is just out to screw you... but it's worse to assume they're your friend and there to help you no matter what.

As a Union member, allow me to remind you all that HR do not care about you and will never address any grievances you have because their job is to limit the legal liability of the company and stop you suing.
Do not trust HR.
Do not think they have your best interests at heart.

Sounds like something an HR professional would say to make sure everyone coughs up the info when they ask.
- No, jobs are what let's you live with a paycheck, if someone is scared of their job or worried it's between you and I. They might snitch or say something to help their case over you.
  Basically no one has your back at work but yourself.
  
  Unless you’re in a union

How convenient it must be for HR for everyone to be afraid of everyone else? How could you possibly unionize or form a cooperative if you fear and distrust your fellow workers?
This post is sus.

As a non American professional, allow me to remind you that that's not the case everywhere. There are company's and country's where employees are safe and valued.
- There are also managers that are actually interested in knowing the complaints of workers. Many things can be done to improve the situation. (again, as non american)
  
  Also as a non-american, I don't think I have ever trusted a co-worker in my 15+ years of professional experience. It's all fun and giggles until they see an opportunity to climb the ladder, and then colleagues will throw you under the bus without even blinking. Best to be safe than sorry.. Also, living is a miserable existence.

Fearmongering.

I like my coworkers enough that I don’t want to put them in a position where they might have to choose between “snitching” and loyalty to me.
It’s not fair to expect another to put their job (or reputation with management) at risk, just for my benefit. If I did expect it, that would make me a selfish prick who didn’t deserve their friendship in the first place.

Between the social policy wars they stoke with the media and political parties they fully own, and the celebrated cut-throat work culture they demand with the promise of slightly larger crumbs, the owners have ensured we, their livestock, stay at each other's throats so we never look up at our common enemy.
Just how they want it. Snitches are class traitors doing their master's work against their own interests.
- Oooohhhh I'm telling on you!!!!
  
  Please do if my punishment is summary execution.

Even tho I disagree, at least I know that I wouldn't want to work with you.

As an HR professional
If you want to have fun, go watch your HR employees on linkedin. They frequently goes directly into HR from jobs requiring no skills at all.
They are complete tools.

As a team leader let me tell you that coworkers "snitching" is useless anyway (at least here in Germany). Just play the mobbing card and their testimony is out the window.
- What's mobbing?
  
  Bullying in german

HR doesn't care about you, they care about the company. You should generally be careful with all work relationships to be sure, but this is clearly anti-union propaganda. No good.

Given that the tweet is from an HR person, who puts the company first, her telling people that fellow workers are not their friends absolutley sounds like trying to sow division/mistrust between class-allies.

I disagree. My coworkers wouldn't generally snitch for the hell of it. That would take effort and they are much too focused on actual work to care. Plus, stirring the pot carries risk.
However, they and I certainly would not stick out my neck for a coworker. But that's not what this post is suggesting. It appears to suggest active hostility is the norm. In that case, find a different workplace.

Doesn't matter, I still ain't no snitch. And no pussy fart at work is gonna change that.

I work for a company that champions their diversity and inclusion stuff EVERYWHERE. I'm partially deaf and wear hearing aids. At a company hosted Christmas Party they had this Cards Against Humanity style game - it wasnt CAH, all of the cards were pretty innocent - like speak in an accent, treat the card as a baby, etc. New guy got a card that said "Imitate someone at the table". He turned to the guy next to him and said "I can't hear you, can you repeat that" - mocking me for being deaf. One of people at the table caught on really quick and was like WTF did you just say?
Nobody laughed. The other person reported the incident to HR and I had to recap the whole thing to them. The guy never apologized for it. HRs resolution was that I could "leave the team" or the company if I didn't want to work with him anymore. This person was one of five people on my team. I didn't leave the team mostly because my manager was pretty supportive and didn't agree with the HR outcome.
So yeah. Coworkers aren't your friends and neither is HR. We got 84% on our D&I score for employee engagement ratings this year.