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California is set to pass a new bill pushing back productivity measurement algorithms allegedly used in Amazon fulfillment centers, as recently reported by NPR’s Morning Edition and The New York Times. The bill was passed by California’s lower legislative house in May and the upper house is expected to vote on it next week. If passed, the bill would impose new transparency requirements on automated quota systems and block any such system that could endanger the health and safety of workers.
Introducing the bill in July, MK Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) cited a Edge report which found that “hundreds” of Amazon warehouse workers were made redundant for failing to meet productivity quotas at a single facility in Baltimore over a period of just over a year. The associated documents showed a deeply automated system to track the productivity rates of each employee.
“To make next day delivery possible, companies like Amazon have made warehouse workers work faster, serve more customers with more orders in record time, and risk their own bodies in the process,” said MP Gonzalez in a press release presenting the bill. “No worker should be forced to sacrifice basic human needs or accept such outrageous terms for a paycheck. We cannot accept this as the new future of work.
Amazon did not publicly take a position on the bill and did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The edge.
The text of Gonzalez’s bill does not name Amazon, but simply requires all warehouse employers in the state of California to give workers access to the details of any quotas used to measure them. Specifically, employees can request “a written description of each quota to which the employee is subject, including the quantified number of tasks to be performed or materials to be produced or handled, in the defined period, and any potential negative action on the employment that could result from non-compliance with the quota.
The bill would also block any quota system preventing meal and rest breaks, or the use of the washroom.
Bathroom breaks are a particularly painful point for Amazon after the company’s high-profile battle over anecdotal reports that the company’s delivery drivers were forced to pee bottles while on the job. Amazon initially denied the information, leading dozens of drivers to share their own experiences and difficulties taking toilet breaks while on the job. However, most concerns about restroom breaks have focused on delivery drivers, who are reportedly not subject to Bill Gonzalez.
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