Science & Tech · Big Tech & Internet · 3 hrs ago
Documents show Amazon used AI to assess union risk at Canadian warehouses
Internal documents show Amazon used an AI tool to assess union risk at warehouses in Canada, the United States and Europe.
The tool, called Atlas, assigned facilities scores based on hundreds of data points, but the documents do not say what those points were or how they were collected.
The documents describe a five-point scale and a separate score from 100 to 900 to assess workplace disruption and the likelihood of a union vote.
Amazon said the information helps it identify trends and improve conditions, while saying AI does not decide how teams act on feedback.
The Delta warehouse near Vancouver had a score of 169, and two Vancouver-area sites had the highest recorded volumes of serious employee-relations events.
The Delta facility’s workers are represented by Unifor, and the union and Amazon are in a dispute over their first collective agreement.
It remains unclear whether Amazon still uses Atlas or another tool to assess union activity at its warehouses.
Amazon used an artificial-intelligence tool called Atlas to assess the likelihood of unionization at its warehouses, internal documents show.
The documents describe the tool’s use in recent years at more than 50 warehouses in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Atlas assigns facilities labour-risk scores and tracks events including union card signings, protests and work stoppages.
Amazon said the framework helps it identify trends and listen to workers, while decisions about acting on feedback are made by teams, not AI.
The documents do not show what data Atlas uses, how it is collected or whether Amazon still uses the tool.
- Who
- Amazon used the Atlas tool. The documents were obtained by The Globe and Mail during proceedings involving Amazon and Unifor.
- What
- The tool assessed the likelihood of unionization at warehouses and assigned labour-risk scores.
- When
- The documents refer to use in recent years; Unifor’s organizing director estimated they date to late 2024 or early 2025.
- Where
- More than 50 Amazon warehouses in the United States, Canada and Europe.
- Why
- Amazon said the information helps it identify trends and prioritize them.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Amazon used Atlas across more than 50 warehouses in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to the documents.
Unifor organizing director Justin Gniposky estimated the documents date from this period.
The British Columbia Labour Relations Board certified a union at Amazon’s Delta warehouse.
Unifor and Amazon have been in a dispute over terms of a first collective agreement for workers at the Delta warehouse.
- Tool
- Atlas
- Scale
- More than 50 warehouses in the United States, Canada and Europe
- Site score
- YVR2 in Delta had a labour-risk score of 169
- Risk scale
- Atlas’s facility classification ran from 1, workplace disruption reported, to 5, no risk of workplace disruption
- High-severity events
- YVR2 recorded 52; YVR3 recorded 47
What people are saying
This framework helps us listen to our teams’ suggestions to drive continuous improvement, and how we act on their feedback is determined by the teams responsible for driving that improvement, not AI.