California Bill Aims To Push Back Against Amazon’s Automated Productivity Tracking Systems

California legislators are set to pass a bill, which will push back against using productivity measurement algorithms such as the one being used in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. If the bill is passed, new transparency requirements will be placed on the automated quota systems. It will also block quota systems that could put the workers’ health and safety in danger. The bill was already passed by California’s lower legislative chamber in May. The upper chamber is expected to vote on the bill next week.

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Amazon’s Productivity-Tracking System

Amazon’s warehouses are the heart of the company, where workers sort out, pack, and shuffle the orders before shipping them out to the buyers. At the same time, critics allege that Amazon’s warehouses have hazardous working conditionsOpens a new window where workers are often forced to pack hundreds of boxes per hour to meet their quotas. Workers are also known to lose their jobs if they fail to move fast enough. In a 2019 report by The Verge, it was seen that hundreds of workers in a single facility were fired as they did not meet their productivity quotas.

The Verge’s report also showed an automated tracking and termination process followed by Amazon. A letterOpens a new window sent to The Verge had claimed, “Amazon’s system tracks the rates of each individual associate’s productivity and automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding quality or productivity without input from supervisors.” According to Stacy Mitchell, co-director, Institute for Local Self-Reliance and a leading critic of Amazon, workers are supervised and monitored by robots. These systems also go as far as tracking workers’ “time-off-task” (TOT). If a worker takes a break for too long, the systems automatically generate a warning. Eventually, the worker may be terminated.

In December 2020, the company launchedOpens a new window an Amazon-powered employee tracking system and software development kits (SDKs). These SDKs could add machine learning (ML) and computer vision to a company’s existing surveillance networks. Fender, the guitar company, is one of the customers of this system. According to Michael SpandauOpens a new window , senior vice president of global IT, Fender, “We can track how long it takes for an associate to complete each task in the assembly of a guitar so that we’re able to optimize efficiency and track key metrics.”

Talking about the possible dangers of such a surveillance system, Kate Rose, a digital security expert, had said, “We know from every other algorithmic audit of these kinds of systems that there are people for whom this kind of tracking and evaluation performs more poorly, and they are the populations already most likely to be surveilled at work and in their communities.”

Also read: Now Facebook Joins Amazon, Apple as EU Probes Possible Antitrust Conduct

Bill To Block Inhumane Quota Systems

The bill opposing such inhumane quota systems was tabled by Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) in July this year. Without naming Amazon, the bill requires California’s warehouse employers to give workers access to the quotas used to measure them. The bill says that employees can requestOpens a new window “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, within the defined time period, and any potential adverse employment action that could result from failure to meet the quota.” The bill would also stop quota systems that prevent workers from taking meal or rest breaks.

When introducing the bill, Gonzalez said, “No worker should be forced to sacrifice their basic human needs or accept such undignified conditions for a paycheck. We cannot accept this as the new future of work.”

Talking about the broader implications for the future of work, Beth Gutelius, research director, the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development, saidOpens a new window , “In the U.S., we are at an inflection point on the question of how technologies are used in workplaces and what rights workers have to data collected about them. Beth Gutelius, research director at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development.”

The bill is currently facing opposition from a coalition of 50 business organizations. In a statement, Rachel Michelin, president, California Retailers Association, saidOpens a new window , “AB 701 is an overly broad bill that will increase the cost of living for all Californians, kill good-paying jobs and damage our fragile supply chain.”

What position Amazon will take on the bill is yet to be seen.

What do you think about Amazon’s automated productivity tracking system and the proposed bill? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , FacebookOpens a new window , and TwitterOpens a new window .