The delegation, led by Li Andersson, conducted the site visits ahead of the European Commission’s upcoming Quality Jobs Act proposal. Workers report that their daily output is tracked through a combination of security cameras, checkpoint badge scans, and handheld product scanners. This constant monitoring creates a cycle where increased efficiency simply leads to higher productivity targets, leaving staff under perpetual pressure.
Amazon workers describe AI-driven digital panopticon
“When you work faster, you have to work even faster,” workers told a delegation of European Parliament members visiting Amazon warehouses in Germany and Poland. The MEPs are investigating how automated surveillance and algorithmic performance monitoring are impacting the mental and physical well-being of thousands of employees across European facilities.
Agata Wypiór, a union leader with Solidarność, noted that the mental toll of being constantly judged by invisible processes is severe. A 2023 survey by UNI Europa corroborates these concerns, finding that roughly half of Amazon’s workforce believes their professional environment negatively affects their health. Andersson warned that because these management systems are algorithmic, the underlying data collection and target-setting mechanisms remain opaque to the people they govern.
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