Documents suggest Amazon uses an AI tool to score warehouses' union risk, openDemocracy reports
openDemocracy's report quotes the internal documents, a UK warehouse worker and Amazon's denial in detail.
Internal documents made public in a court fight between Amazon and a Canadian union suggest Amazon uses Atlas, an in-house AI forecasting tool, to predict how likely warehouse staff in the US, Canada and the UK are to try to unionize, stage a sit-in or take other "disruptive labour events," openDemocracy reports. The documents, which appear to be training material for managers, say Atlas draws on "hundreds of data points," including Reddit posts and staff survey answers, to give each warehouse a score from 100 to 900, sorted into five tiers from "no immediate perceived risk" to "future activity is imminent."
An Amazon spokesperson rejected the description of Atlas as individual monitoring or surveillance, saying it works at site or building level only, does not track individual employees' opinions, affiliations or union membership, and is used to see where staff need more support.
Across the spectrum 1
Democrat
Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.): Reintroducing the Stop Spying Bosses Act on June 23, 2026 (which would bar employers from collecting data that interferes with organizing and require disclosure of workplace surveillance), Deluzio said workers need protection from "bosses tracking their every move on the clock with powerful tools" and "should have a workplace with respect and dignity—not endless suspicion."
Office of Rep. Chris Deluzio ↗-
Union busting
After exploring Amazon uses AI to monitor union risk in UK warehouses, for the history critics are pointing to, read about Union busting.
Covers the range of employer activities used to disrupt or weaken unions or their organizing, and the euphemisms used for them.
Wikipedia · Wade · 5 min
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