Following repeated reports of horrifying levels of workplace injuries at Amazon warehouses, California has passed legislation regulating the the quotas and algorithms used in warehouses.
Specifically, it requires that the standards for employees be made public, and that they demonstrate that these standards do not require things like skipping breaks and injuring workers.
I expect Amazon to try and find a way to game the system:
California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed a bill that limits warehouse employers like Amazon.com Inc. from setting productivity quotas, the first legislation of its kind in the United States.
The new provisions require all companies using warehouse labour to disclose productivity quotas to employees and government agencies and bar use of algorithms that prevent employees from taking rests and bathroom breaks, thereby endangering their health and safety, the governor's office said.
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While Newsom's office did not single out any company in the statement, the New York Times reported that the bill was written partly in response to high rates of injuries at Amazon warehouses.
The rate at which Amazon workers suffer serious injuries was nearly double that of the rest of the warehousing industry last year, the newspaper reported, citing studies.
Among other things, I expect Amazon to create "independent" companies to own and operate the warehouses, much in the same way that they do with delivery drivers, in order to insulate themselves from legal liability.
Amazon won't do the right thing until Jeff Bezos is frog marched out of his offices, or his mansion, in handcuffs.
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