By Dan Ilett, 7 June 2005 15:30
NEWS
A trade union is warning supermarkets to stop tracking workers or face strike action.
General workers union GMB said it wants supermarket distribution depots to stop 'dehumanising' staff by electronically tracking and timing each task they perform.
Paul Kenny, the GMB's acting general secretary, said: "The GMB is no Luddite organisation but we will not stand idly by to see our members reduced to automatons. The use of this technology needs to be redesigned to be an aide to the worker rather than making the worker its slave.
"The supermarkets that rely on just-in-time shelf filling rather than holding buffer stocks are incredibly profitable companies. They can well afford to operate a humanised supply chain. They should do so quickly otherwise the GMB will ensure that the shelves do not get filled."
The union is specifically targeting 'wearable' computers that can be fitted to the arm or chest. The portable devices communicate with supermarket servers via wireless networks and are typically worn by staff for shelf stacking, taking inventory or packing goods for online shopping orders.
The GMB said the devices have put pressure on workers as the computers track how long it takes people to move from place to place - even, for example, leaving their job to go to the toilet.
But supermarket Tesco, which has deployed wearable computers, insisted its workers were not tracked or timed on tasks. It said the technology had simplified depot work and made staff happier.
A spokeswoman for Tesco said: "Our warehouse staff are a highly trained and highly valued part of our team. The technology is not capable of tracking staff, it is used to pick products correctly and help get them to stores as quickly as possible for our customers. Our staff tell us that this has made their jobs easier, creating less paper and helping them to pick more accurately."
Xybernaut, a wearable computer manufacturer, declined to comment.
Comments
There are 5 comments. Join the discussion
1. Gary Mead
It’s important for all businesses to recognise that technology can improve the efficiency of their workforce, but electronic tagging is unnecessary. There are much less intrusive methods of improving productivity and communication in the workplace that have been in practice for more than ten years.
Wireless handsets, which have all the features of a desktop phone in your pocket, enable employees to move freely around the workplace but remain in direct contact with colleagues and managers. Productivity is improved through simple and effective communication that removes the need to travel from one end of a site to the other to check stock.
They also offer additional benefits, such as improved customer service and no interference with machinery, which is the risk mobile phones in this environment can pose.
Warehouse and supermarket owners need to think more laterally: rather than making their staff feel like prisoners, managers should look to more simple solutions to instil trust and give workers the freedom and flexibility to work more efficiently.
2. anonymous
So that's why they have to go into the back to find out whether something's in stock, rather than just consulting a pocket PC with WiFi connection to the inventory system ...
3. Clarence Bodicker
What's important to remember here is that most of the people in IT (and presumably those reading this) are pretty tech savvy - ie they understand technolgy and appreciate the benefits it brings.
For many people who work in the supply chain it's not necessary for them to know the ins and outs of wireless devices. Don't forget the for the majority of people out there technology is just not a priority.
As a society we're constantly thrusting new gadgets on to people, using the excuse that it will help them do their job (which in their eyes they'd been doing just fine for years anyway).
Technical people are all too ready to get exited by new gadgets - it's the nature of their work - but what the don't consider is the social effect of technology. So what may seem like a sound business idea to the tech minded can often be seen as another method of control in the workplace.
One final point - if you read this article and can't see what the fuss is about then consider your own views on ID cards, or RFID or Spyware - you'll eventually find a tech issue that makes you feel uncomfortable.
4. anonymous
So you think that WiFi is dehumanising supermarket staff. There has been alsorts of intimidation of staff with the security cameras - throughput checking on the checkouts etc. At the supermarket that I work for - at store level - we find damaged stock arriving from our depots all the time because of targets that make the stock pickers stack cages and palets in the fastest way possible rather than tidiest and protective manner.
Staff in the supermarket world are fodder that can be readily replaced in many areas of the country and are subject to job threat at all times from poor management - do this or I will suspend you, even if the command is unreasonable ill thought out and likely to cause more problems.
Would be interested to see if the GMB can make any action stick - they appear to be fairly toothless in my area even though I am told my employer recognises them as 'our union' - they make certain that there is little or no representation, from my perspective.
Supermarket employee
5. anonymous
The elements of this story are, of course, nothing new: technology, labor/management relations, and power - who controls the workplace. The conjunction of themes goes back to the beginnings of the labor movement. Every advance in technology disrupts the equilibrium of power relations. The Orwellian cast to the story - the individual under big brother's ever vigilant eye and abusive lash - is misplaced. It's not a zero-sum game; it's a continuous process of negotiation to establish a workable equilibrium. No side ever fully wins or loses in this arena and, in my experience, nobody is ever entirely happy with the achieved status quo. The underlying issues, which are Marxist - who controls the means of production, etc - remain as latent as ever.
The real question has to do with the overall trends of what has become the dominant, worldwide capitalist economic model that objectifies all human input along the supply chain (including "management") as just another commodity. And since no other economic model has proven its worth, we're a very long way from resolving that dilemma. The technology under review here simply strives to increase quantity (an essentially economic value) at the potential expense of quality (an essentially existential value). My take: quantity remains the overlord, at everone's expense.