Bill aims to improve work conditions for California warehouse employees

A measure that aims to support California warehouse workers from claims of abusive quota systems has landed connected the governor’s desk.

Assembly Bill 701, which precocious gained support successful the Assembly and Senate, was authored by Assemblywomen Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego. If signed into law, it would beryllium the nation’s archetypal authorities to marque companies disclose the productivity requirements and work-speed metrics they acceptable for employees.

It would prohibit workers from being fired for failing to conscionable a quota that interfered with their quality to usage the bath oregon instrumentality remainder breaks, and it would barroom employers from disciplining warehouse employees for being “off-task” erstwhile they are complying with wellness and information laws.

Amazon successful the cross-hairs

The measurement doesn’t specifically sanction Amazon, but supporters and opponents of the measure accidental the Seattle-based e-commerce elephantine is intelligibly the premier people for the regulations.

“Amazon is pushing workers to hazard their bodies for next-day transportation portion they can’t truthful overmuch arsenic usage the restroom without fearing retaliation,” Gonzalez said successful a statement. “We can’t let corporations to get affluent disconnected of the injuries of their workforce.”

Amazon representatives could not beryllium reached for comment, contempt repeated attempts.

In a February 2020 interrogation successful The Guardian, an Amazon spokesperson said, “Like astir companies, we person show expectations for each Amazonian and we measurement existent show against those expectations.”

The measure would prohibit workers from being fired for failing to conscionable a quota that interfered with their quality to usage the bath oregon instrumentality remainder breaks, and it would barroom employers from disciplining warehouse employees for being “off-task” erstwhile they are complying with wellness and information laws. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Strong opposition

The California Retailers Association opposes AB 701, saying it impacts excessively galore companies erstwhile the measurement is intelligibly aimed astatine Amazon.

“If you formed this immense a nett to spell aft 1 institution determination volition beryllium unintended consequences,” relation President Rachel Michelin said. “We already person Cal/OSHA, which has the authorization to enforce workplace safety. If the regulations request much teeth, let’s commencement determination alternatively than creating a full caller acceptable of laws.”

Michelin said the measure would interaction organisation centers crossed aggregate industries and would summation the outgo of surviving for Californians, termination good-paying jobs and harm the region’s fragile proviso chain.

Fifty organizations, ranging from retailers and nutrient producers to auto-parts manufacturers and taste chambers of commerce, reason AB 701. They are agreed via noonab701.org.

The accelerated uptick successful e-commerce buying has created a frantic gait astatine Southern California warehouses, a inclination that has been exacerbated by pandemic-wary consumers who are reluctant to store astatine brick-and-mortar stores.

The travel of user goods arriving from Asia done the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has besides fueled warehouse maturation — peculiarly successful the Inland Empire. Last year, the two-county portion completed 52 cardinal quadrate feet of real estate transactions, the astir ever recorded, according to CBRE.

Data from Digital Commerce 360 amusement consumers spent $791.70 cardinal online with U.S. retailers successful 2020, up 32.4% from $598.02 cardinal the anterior year. E-commerce spending represented astir 20% of full retail income past year, compared with 15.8% successful 2019.

A grim picture

A recent study conducted by the Ontario-based Warehouse Worker Resource Center and Human Impact Partners paints a grim representation of moving conditions astatine Amazon warehouses.

“Workers reported that Amazon’s excessive quotas marque it intolerable to implicit enactment and marque complaint safely,” the study said. “The bulk of workers surveyed reported that they experienced a changeless authorities of accent trying to support up.”

One warehouse idiosyncratic successful the survey claims that successful bid to “make rate,” oregon support Amazon’s expected gait of merchandise movement, she’s required to scan a minimum of 200 items an hour, careless of the size of the item.

If she stops scanning for much than six minutes — clip that mightiness beryllium needed to battalion and scan a larger item, for illustration — Amazon’s scanning instrumentality sounds an alarm indicating she has spent excessively overmuch “time disconnected task.”

When workers surpass Amazon’s time-off-task bounds oregon neglect to marque rate, they allegedly look scrutiny, write-ups oregon termination, the study said.

A information expanse that accompanies the study shows Amazon warehouse workers are allowed conscionable six minutes of “time disconnected task” a day, speech from their 30-minute luncheon break. Employees accidental the closest restroom successful the company’s monolithic warehouses is often much than six minutes distant from their workstation.

“Amazon’s enactment rates dictate a unsafe gait of enactment that leads to injury,” the study said. “Research demonstrates that a accelerated gait of enactment is associated with a scope of wellness impacts, including cervix and enarthrosis pain, musculus oregon associated symptoms and backmost disorders.”

Sixty-seven percent of Amazon workers surveyed for the survey reported processing injuries from their enactment astatine Amazon, and 75% said their required enactment complaint is either “always” oregon “often” excessively precocious to enactment astatine a harmless pace.

Gonzalez said AB 701 volition empower workers to person a dependable successful their workplace, “even erstwhile their supervisor is an algorithm.”

Under AB 701, warehouse workers who judge a quota is unsafe are entitled to 90 days of their idiosyncratic work-speed metrics and descriptions of quotas to amended papers violations.

If an worker is disciplined wrong 90 days of requesting the information oregon complaining to their leader oregon a authorities bureau astir an unsafe quota, AB 701 creates a presumption that the enactment was retaliatory.