The incident comes at a time when Amazon is facing accusations by the U.S. Department of Labour that it failed to properly record work-related injuries and illnesses at six warehouses in five states. Credit: Amazon.
London: British lawmakers have called on retail giant Amazon (AMZN.O) to clarify comments made by a top executive at a recent parliamentary hearing, after an advocacy group accused him of providing “misleading” evidence concerning the company’s treatment of warehouse workers.
The company has strongly denied the executive – European policy chief Brian Palmer – had misled parliament when he testified to the Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee on November 15 as part of a wide-reaching panel on technology in the workplace, according to an Amazon spokesperson.
The bone of contention is whether Amazon uses tracking technology in its warehouses in Britain primarily to survey worker productivity – a claim that Amazon has repeatedly denied – or to promote worker safety, as the company says.
Earlier, responding to a question about workplace surveillance from the chairman of the committee, Labour MP Darren Jones, Palmer said it was used mostly to monitor goods rather than people: “They are not primarily or even secondarily to identify under-performers. Performance-related feedback is really focused on safety.”
The senior Amazon executive also told MPs that Amazon continues to “perform better than industry” on employee safety parameters, and he said warehouse workers could easily access their performance targets through “online tools that are made available to every single employee”.
In a December 2 letter, Foxglove, a London-based worker advocacy group, wrote to the committee disputing Palmer’s statements.
“Brian Palmer’s evidence was materially misleading in several respects,” the letter said, refuting his statements on the use of tracking tools, Amazon’s track record on safety and the transparency of workers’ performance targets.
The London-based worker advocacy group cited legal filings related to American court cases where regulators say safety risks arose because of productivity pressure, and testimony from workers at five warehouses in the United Kingdom.
“The Committee may wish to clarify with Palmer and Amazon whether the company can prove that the position is different in UK warehouses – a matter that Amazon should be asked to demonstrate with evidence, rather than merely assert,” the group said.
Committee member Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough for the opposition Labour party, said he had raised concerns about Palmer’s testimony in writing with the group, after viewing Foxglove’s letter.
“We were extremely unhappy with his testimony,” McDonald said. “If somebody comes before the Committee and misleads us, they are duty-bound to correct the record.”
Committee chair Jones has written to Amazon, outlining eight points he said required further explanation, related to allegations of employee surveillance and health and safety data.
An Amazon spokesperson said that Amazon used CCTV cameras “to ensure the safety of employees and security of products”.
Amazon has a system to recognize strong performance by employees and to encourage coaching for those who are not meeting their goals, the spokesperson said. “To suggest that the use of these standard business practices amount to surveillance of employees is wrong,” the Amazon spokesperson added.
The incident comes at a time when Amazon is facing accusations by the U.S. Department of Labour that it failed to properly record work-related injuries and illnesses at six warehouses in five states. Amazon has until January 24 to respond to Jones’ letter.
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