Amazon is being watched, though not as closely as it watches its workers.

Amid a union vote, Business Insider reported on how the giant company keeps tabs on employees.

In Bessemer, Ala., meanwhile, vote counting began Tuesday to determine whether workers will form the first-ever labor union at an Amazon warehouse in the U.S.

Among the many reasons for the pro-union feeling: a sense of being watched by Amazon.

Does that happy face insignia on Amazon vehicles betray the truth?

Some drivers are not smiling, thanks to Amazon’s Netradyne Driveri system.

Per Insider:

Vans are beginning to include a “four-part camera with biometric feedback indicators.” The company now can see drivers yawn, break the speed limit, look away from the road — and then tattle.

A live feed of the recording can be sent to the bosses.

Amazon claims it’s just “investing in safety across our operations and recently started rolling out industry leading camera-based safety technology across our delivery fleet.”

Warehouse employees must wrestle with a “time off task” and “assistants” who help with social distancing.

The “time off task,” or the amount of time employees are not directly working, could lead to termination without directly involving a human supervisor or manager. 

Amazon refuted Insider’s reporting, saying, “It is absolutely not true that employees are terminated through an automatic system,” and, while the tracking exists, personnel decisions do involve managers.

In Bessemer, though, an employee told Insider that managers had the ability to edit time off task “at their discretion.”

And social distancing?

A video, included in an Insider report from June 2020 – now unlisted on the Amazon News YouTube account – shows the “distance assistant” noting green circles around workers if they maintain six feet of distance; red circles if workers get too close to each other.

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