Amazon accused of using algorithms to push warehouse workers to breaking point

Amazon has used tricks, algorithms, and surveillance to discourage warehouse employees from unionizing, according to a paper published in the journal Socius.

The study, titled "Weaponizing the Workplace: How Algorithmic Management Shaped Amazon's Antiunion Campaign in Bessemer, Alabama," was conducted by Teke Wiggin, a researcher at Northwestern University in the US. It's worth reading the full write-up if you have time; we'll summarize some of it here.

It focuses on the 2021 union vote at an Amazon warehouse in the city of Bessemer, Alabama – population 25,000 – which ended with employees voting against unionizing. The report claims this result can be attributed in part to Amazon's use of algorithmic management practices.

Make 'em feel better ... for now

"The findings reveal that employers can weaponize elements or effects of algorithmic management against unions via repurposing devices that algorithmically control workers, engaging in 'algorithmic slack-cutting,' and exploiting patterns ...