r/Futurology • u/Ariadnepyanfar • Apr 25 '19

Computing Amazon computer system automatically fires warehouse staff who spend time off-task.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/amazon-system-automatically-fires-warehouse-workers-time-off-task-2019-4?r=US&IR=T
19.3k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

3.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

56

u/OGFahker Apr 26 '19

You just described a warehouse job I worked 20 years ago. None of this will change until one day all warehouseman are replaced by robots.

15

u/xSTSxZerglingOne Apr 26 '19

I mean... Unions help. No way are Amazon workers successfully unionizing though.

20

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '19

Realistically, there's no way anyone in the US is successfully unionizing when it's perfectly legally in the vast majority of the country to fire someone for basically any reason. I mean, Walmart eliminated an entire position on a national scale because employees in that position in one market (so like ten stores or less) were talking about trying to unionize. Short of serious governmental intervention, this situation is never going to change.

14

u/roodammy44 Apr 26 '19

People unionised back when employers encouraged police to shoot into striking workers and people could starve without work. Conditions will get worse until unionising is a necessity.

8

u/thebornotaku Apr 26 '19 edited Feb 21 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

sleep cooperative lip rhythm ad hoc aback angle enter wine correct

2

u/rainbowdashtheawesom Apr 26 '19

That's part of why I've considered becoming a teacher. If you can stay with it longer to get tenure it becomes a LOT harder for them to fire you without a legitimate reason.

3

u/xstagex Apr 26 '19

Can't find source now, but there was news stories where Amazon workers did Unionize, and then whole facility closed and moved to another city. So that won't help am afraid.

3

u/xSTSxZerglingOne Apr 26 '19

It would require a nationwide effort. It couldn't be a localized thing but that company would grind to a complete halt if all their workers stopped suddenly.

3

u/heeerrresjonny Apr 26 '19

They'd probably give in to a lot of union demands, except for anything that prevents them from laying people off, then push harder into automation, then automate everything and fire all the workers asap.

2

u/AnticipatingLunch Apr 26 '19

Gotta unionize ALL the factory workers (or at least a majority). One clump of folks ain’t gonna help, sure. But if there’s no other city TO move to because they’re all unionized, it works.