Amazon’s surveillance can boost output and possibly limit unions: Study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com relies on extensive worker surveillance to boost employee output and potentially limit unionization efforts around the United States, says a research paper issued on Monday by the Open Markets Institute.

The Washington-based research and advocacy group, focused on antitrust and monopoly power of technology companies, said Amazon uses such tools as navigation software, item scanners, wristbands, thermal cameras, security cameras and recorded footage to surveil its workforce in warehouses and stores.

The paper says Amazon moves employees around in what could be an attempt to limit union organizing. For example, it creates heat maps and uses data such as team-member sentiment and a diversity index to figure out which of its stores may have a higher risk of unionizing, the report says.