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Many Amazon van drivers are third-party contractors. As per the report in February, they have learned earlier this year their vans will be equipped with a feature that is a four-part camera that involves biometric feedback indicators. This system will be monitoring its drivers looking away from the road, over speeding, and even yawn and it will send a live feed of the recording to the managers. However, some of the drivers may find the practice invasive.
When drivers were asked to comment regarding this new feature and delivery pattern, they quitted commenting. Well, Amazon now provided positive driver testimonials and mentioned to Insider in a statement that “investing in safety across our operations and recently started rolling out industry leading camera-based safety technology across our delivery fleet.”
In 2019 April, the company was on the verge of introducing a system tracking warehouse workers’ “time off tasks”, or the amount of time they are not directly working. As per the reporters result in a warehouse worker’s termination may not directly involve a human supervisor or manager. Amazon mentioned, “It is absolutely not true that employees are terminated through an automatic system.” However, they will maintain that despite automated tracking, personnel decision involves managers.
Further, time off task has been a factor in the Bessemer, Alabama, union vote: one of the workers informed the reporter that she felt that the worker is unfairly punished and the system was not that much transparent. However, the employee mentioned that the managers had the capability to edit the time off task “at their discretion.”
As per the reporter, Amazon has kept a dozen of factors that indicates pro-union sentiment that involves the distance to a union office and the amount of human resources complaints at the store in question. However, the metrics came up with a ranking of the then-510 locations which is based on the likelihood of the workers at these positions tracking a union effort.
Well, Amazon worked with the Pinkerton Spy Agency which is famous for its anti-union efforts to keep track of the warehouse workers across Europe. In response to the Insider’s reporting, Amazon mentioned that the Barcelona strike, mentioned: “any activity we undertake is fully in line with local laws and conducted with the full knowledge and support of local authorities.”
