The disturbing automatic system that suggests to Amazon who to fire because 'not productive'

Don't you reach the required levels of productivity? You're fired. In Amazon it is an automatic system, a software that tracks employees, indicating who is below the productivity standards set by the company. Science fiction? Unfortunately no. It is a sad truth that has already cost some employees their jobs

Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerous

Another complaint therefore addressed to the well-known e-commerce company, and the conditions and treatment reserved for warehouse workers are always in the sights. According to what was reported by aprevious investigation, there are shifts of up to 10 consecutive hours, a maximum time of 30 seconds allowed to pack a package, each shift is under the eye of the cameras and in the end someone collapses from fatigue.

And now it turns out that this control system also automatically measures productivity levels, suggesting to the company who is unable to reach those set as minimums. In a factory in Baltimore (USA), between August 2017 and September 2018, 300 people lost their jobs for reasons of "productivity".

A case? No, a practice reported in The Verge newspaper, which published a letter written by a company lawyer to one of the unfortunates, in which he points out that his is one of the "stardard" cases of dismissal.

"About 300 employees moved to Baltimore in relation to productivity in this time frame - an Amazon spokesperson said - In general, the number of layoffs has decreased over the past two years at this facility and across North America ”. However, the company did not provide details on the current rate of termination of employment.

To clarify the dismissal of one of the employees, who had reported his case to the National Labor Relations Board, the lawyer explains in the letter very candidly that he had been fired for not having reached the productivity standards set by Amazon and equally candidly declares the 'existence of an automatic tracking system.

"The dismissal occurred due to repeated failure to meet and maintain productivity levels - it says in the letter - […] The criteria for receiving a productivity alert are completely objective. The production system generates all alerts and dismissal reports occur automatically, without any intervention by the supervisors ".

However, the lawyer also explains that each report is still verified and in this regard he mentions a couple of system errors which therefore did not lead to termination of the employment relationship.

It also emphasizes what level of productivity it must be repeated to lead to a decision like this (in the case of the letter about "4 of the previous 6 weeks"). And he claims that, as he was fired, hundreds of other employees were. Without prejudice therefore. Only judgments, ironclad, of an automatic system.

Objective? Undoubtedly. But what really worries is precisely the capillary control of every movement, even regardless of the results. In fact, if we cross this new revelation with the previous complaints, a questionable picture of working conditions appears.

The protests, meanwhile, are raging, with the cry of "We are not robot"(" We are not robots ").

https://t.co/hV1lHjzDIU Amazon workers in New York just announced their plan to unionize “We are not robots, we are human beings.” pic.twitter.com/Zt75i05X43

— Keeping Up With The Anarcho Syndicalists (@KUWTAS) 13 dicembre 2018

Amazon workers in Europe mark Black Friday with ‘we are not robots’ protests https://t.co/0qON0lKh6y pic.twitter.com/XdY7kbJwuF

— CNET (@CNET) November 25, 2018

Just two days ago, Amazon has published its sales data, which show a clear growth. We ask ourselves at what price.

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