Amazon uses AI surveillance to monitor union risk in UK warehouses // Internal documents suggest tech giant collects ‘hundreds of data points’ for ‘union-busting’ AI model
cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/[email protected]/p/2035912/amazon-uses-ai-surveillance-to-monitor-union-risk-in-uk-warehouses-internal-documents-s
https://www.opendemocracy.net/amazon-ai-surveillance-monitor-union-activity-uk-warehouses-birmingham-coventry-atlas-sutton-coldfield/Open linkView original on feddit.online
25 replies
This is why corporations want AI so badly. If they can’t use it to replace you, they will use it to control you.
"AI, how do I start a union when Amazon is using these tactics?"
There's a definite disparity in the dataset available to you and the dataset available to your employer. You can't Sony AI Uno Reverse your way out of this one.
Sure you can. You might have to pay a little for it.
Employers start with personal data on every one of their employees. And they can do slimey shit like this, if you're building a union you need to build trust, and monitoring your members wouldn't be doing that.
also this isn't jut some warehouse AWS is literally the biggest data infrastructure broker in history.
So what. You gotta try, even if it's not as good.
Maybe the money would be better spent on pizza to get people to come to your union meetings....
Or maybe it would be better spent on Claude. I've seen that AI do its thing, fight fire with fire.
Why would you fight trying pizza and AI?
batman-thisistheweaponoftheenemywewillnotuseit.gif
I have helped organize a workplace and I cant think of a way AI could have aided us. My fellow organizers would occasionally ask it advice or questions about labor law.
The first use case didn't produce anything overly helpful, but maybe it helped soothe their nerves. The second use case... We're not lawyers and the devil is in the details. Fortunately we had help from the organization we joined. They were extremely helpful and knowledgeable.
AI is great at sources and finding places that have done it before. Also, if you put in what Amazon is doing, there may be sources for laws that they're breaking, and ways you can legally counteract. Notice, I said sources. It can also help you organize all of the info*. AI is an amazing intern, but that's about it. Still very helpful.
If only I could afford that RTX 9990, I’d have a union….
Couldn't we all just agree to unionize anyway?
They're trying to use this to identify those most likely to organize/join first so they can fire them before they do. That's the whole point, stopping it before they can even start
you can, but the point of union busting (as I understand it) is to make it harder to get support/members
Burning down a toilet paper warehouse was always an option.
Unions became a thing in the USA after the fallout from the Battle of Blair Mountain.
Sadly most West Virginians don't know their own history and are rabid boot lickers.
My point is, before unions, if you had a problem with your boss, you would just shoot the boss. That was too much for the cappies, and they allowed unionism as a pressure release valve to avoid themselves getting shot. Now if people are unhappy they can hold signs in 100 degree weather and make noise. Much better than getting shot.
No, we can't, that's literally what Union busting is - intentionally adding as much friction as possible to people agreeing on that very thing. Perhaps we would if we could but powerful forces work such that we can't, even if it could be argued we ought be allowed.
"In other news, it's getting hot in the Amazon. A spree of fires have struck Amazon warehouses and several managers disemboweled in their own homes. More at 11."
The only manager whose violent death would change Amazon, is Bezos.
I mean, someone snaps, I'm not expecting a well thought out plan. Kill the people verbalizing the orders and obliterate the prison. Thats going to fit the description better for someone exhausted and pissed off. For every Luigi, there are 1000 Mark Orrin Bartons
Big companies have always used unionbusting activities. The reason why most transferrable fully automatic machine guns are owned by companies was because machine guns were used for union busting.
"Attention residents: miscount detected in your block. Cooperation with your Civil Protection team permits full ration reward."
On program!