John,
Imagine having persistent infections because your employer’s software determines when you can go to the bathroom. That’s the reality for thousands of Amazon workers.
Workers are monitored and controlled by Amazon’s extensive surveillance dragnet. An intricate network of artificial intelligent security cameras serve as the surveillance backbone alongside tracking devices, thermal cameras, and scanners. 1
Tell Congress: keep workers safe and put an end to Amazon’s workplace surveillance.
It gets worse. Amazon employs a team of former U.S. intelligence and military agents to spy on workers. The team compiles confidential reports for Amazon leadership tracking conversations around worker organizing, media interviews, and planned protests/strikes in order to stop efforts to organize for better workplace conditions. 2
Last week, Senators Brown and Wyden wrote a letter calling on Amazon to stop spying on their workers. A letter is a good first step but Congress needs to take concrete action to end invasive workplace surveillance. 3
Tell Congress: pass legislation to end workplace surveillance.
TAKE ACTION
Workplace surveillance has a variety of harms on society and workers.
Workers exist in a constant state of panic impacting their mental health. Pressure to avoid second by second performance warnings spurs workers to take hazardous actions resulting in increased physical injuries, infections and other health issues. Serious injuries leave some workers permanently disabled and unable to work relying on disability to pay their bills. And the stress from this surveillance leads to high turnover rates and consistent cyclic unemployment. 4
We can’t allow this to continue. People have the right to work in surveillance-free, safe working environments. Surveillance sets up power imbalances between employers and workers that impedes workers basic rights. Workplace surveillance does not increase productivity or facilitate any work functions other than controlling worker behavior.
We know members of Congress are interested in putting an end to this. We basically need just one member of Congress to put forth legislation to end invasive workplace surveillance taking place at companies like Amazon. There is a real opportunity here. But we need to build a mass grassroots mobilization before Amazon’s army of lobbyists kill any potential for real reform.
Please sign the petition to stop invasive workplace surveillance.
For a surveillance-free future,
Ayele, Fight for the Future
Footnotes:
1. Open Markets Institute.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e449c8c3ef68d752f3e70dc/t/5f4cffea23958d79eae1ab23/1598881772432/Amazon_Report_Final.pdf
2. VICE. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3azegw/amazon-is-spying-on-its-workers-in-closed-facebook-groups-internal-reports-show
3. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Office.
https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/brown-wyden-blast-amazon-thwart-union-organizing-end-anti-worker-policies
4. Open Markets Institute.
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5e449c8c3ef68d752f3e70dc/t/5f4cffea23958d79eae1ab23/1598881772432/Amazon_Report_Final.pdf
Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.
