Amazon fined millions for excessive control of employees

Amazon je bil zaradi “pretiranega” nadzora svojih delavcev v Franciji kaznovan z globo v višini 32 milijonov evrov. Francoski nadzorni organ za varstvo podatkov CNIL je navedel, da je podjetje Amazon France Logistique, ki upravlja skladišča, beležilo podatke, ki so jih zajeli ročni skenerji delavcev.

Amazon allegedly tracked employees so closely that workers had to justify every break. Amazon firmly stated that it does not agree with the findings of the CNIL and called them false.

The CNIL investigated Amazon's warehouses following employee complaints and media coverage of the situation. He cited several areas where he found Amazon to have violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Among other things, the three-alert system for monitoring employee activities, which the CNIL ruled to be illegal, is said to be questionable.

One warning was triggered if an item was scanned too quickly or less than 1.25 seconds after the previous item was scanned, increasing the risk of error. A second alert signaled breaks lasting 10 minutes or more, and a third monitored breaks between one and 10 minutes.

The CNIL also questioned why Amazon had to keep workers' data for 31 days.

Amazonov tiskovni predstavnik je v odzivu na ugotovitve dejal: “Of course, we do not agree with the findings of the CNIL, which are factually incorrect, and we reserve the right to file an appeal. Warehouse management systems are the industry standard and are required to ensure the safety, quality and efficiency of work performance and to monitor inventory storage and timely processing of packages in line with customer expectations.”

A similar Amazon warehouse system has been exposed in the UK before.

Vodja Amazonove evropske politike Brian Palmer je novembra 2022 pred parlamentarnim odborom povedal, da lahko delavca odpustijo, če ima v sistemu tri prekrške glede produktivnosti. Spletni velikan je pozneje dejal, da niso bili “povsem korektni”.

A subsequent report published by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee raised concerns about the use of surveillance technology to set performance targets and monitor performance.

V poročilu je bilo navedeno, da obstajajo dokazi, ki kažejo, da Amazonove prakse nadzora “vodijo v nezaupanje, mikromenedžment in v nekaterih primerih v disciplinske ukrepe proti delavcem”.

Amazon also used the data collected by the scanner to plan work in warehouses, evaluate employees weekly and train them. The supervisory authority decided that Amazon did not need access to the data collected by the scanners for this.

The online shopping giant was fined for failing to adequately inform workers and outside visitors about the surveillance, and the watchdog also found that video surveillance was insufficiently secured.

Sindikat GMB, ki zastopa Amazonove skladiščne delavce v Združenem kraljestvu, se je na sodbo odzval z besedami, da se zaposleni v podjetju soočajo s “hudimi pritiski pregleda in nadzora”.