Amazon is one of the new international corporate powers that has budgets that rival some nation-states. The pushback by nation-states to try to reign in these unaccountable leviathons is going on across multiple fronts. In California, a legislature seeks to tilt the balance of power back in the favor of the state by passing new regulations that would require Amazon track the workflow of each person to assure Amazon is not working their people to death.
As far as workers are concerned, this might be a win for them, though, to be sure, it is the incidental fruit of a win for the state to keep Amazon aware of the power balance, at the end of the day, between the state and the international corporate leviathon.
California lawmakers take on Amazon warehouses with AB 701
From www.latimes.com
2021-08-31 12:00:18
Excerpt:
California lawmakers are taking aim at Amazon.
An Assembly-passed bill is expected to reach the Senate floor this week or next to crack down on the opaque, algorithm-led and harsh warehouse work conditions often attributed to the Seattle technology behemoth.
The bill, the first such legislation in the nation, would require warehouses to disclose quotas and work speed metrics to employees and government agencies. It would ban “time off task” penalties that affect health and safety, including bathroom use, and prohibit retaliation against workers who complain.
Amazon dominates online shopping across the nation amid a surge in e-commerce fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. With 950,000 U.S. employees and $368 billion in revenue in 2020, it is the nation’s second-largest employer after Walmart, and is under growing pressure to address worker injuries in its supply chain.
