// UK lawmakers are asking Amazon to clarify statements made by a senior exec over warehouse conditions, Reuters reports
// European policy chief Brian Palmer has been accused for “misleading” evidence when he testified to the BEIS Select Committee
Amazon is facing pressure from UK lawmakers to clarify statements made by a senior executive over warehouse conditions.
Advocacy group Foxglove accused European policy chief Brian Palmer of providing “misleading” evidence about the online giant‘s treatment of warehouse workers.
An Amazon spokesperson told Reuters the retailer strongly denied the claim that its executive had misled parliament when he testified to the Business, Energy and industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee on 15 November.
The debate is about whether Amazon uses tracking technology in its UK warehouses to track worker productivity – which the online giant has repeatedly denied.
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Responding to a question about workplace surveillance, Palmer said it was used to monitor goods instead of people.
“They are not primarily or even secondarily to identify under-performers,” he said.
“Performance-related feedback is really focused on safety.”
He told MPs on the committee that Amazon continues to “perform better than industry” on employee safety and warehouse workers are able to access their performance targets through “online tools that are made available to every single employee”.
Palmer declined Reuters’ request for comment.
An Amazon spokesperson said the online giant used CCTV cameras “to ensure the safety of employees and security of products”.
“To suggest that the use of these standard business practices amount to surveillance of employees is wrong.”
Members of the GMB union at the retailer’s warehouse in Coventry are set to walk out at the end of January for the first time as part of a dispute over pay.
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