June 7, 2005
Man vs. machine, revisited
“Battery farm” workplaces are springing up in warehouses and distribution centres with employees made to wear electronic wrist tags to monitor and direct their actions, a report said yesterday.
The surveillance tags pick up satellite signals that tell employees to move or pick up goods and monitor the time taken to perform tasks. Unions have complained that the tags are being used to monitor breaks and even trips to the lavatory, turning workplaces into “battery farms”.
The report by Mike Blakemore, of [Britain’s] Durham University, conducted for the GMB general union, said that the use of the wearable satellite devices was growing throughout the logistics industry and had escalated in the past few months.
The GMB estimates that between 5,000 and 10,000 workers are asked to wear the mini-computers, which is triggering walkouts and a rise in staff turnover … Paul Kenny, the acting general secretary of the GMB, said: “This technology has been imported from the US. We will not stand by to see our members reduced to automatons.”
He then ordered them all to “down tools” and go on strike.
Oh, wait a minute, I’m a socialist, I can’t make that joke. Sorry.
Posted by Stephen at 12:03 AM in Science + technology | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
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