Woolworths Workers Are Striking Over Tracking Technology

[@rabidsminions2079]

As someone who worked in warehouses for years, the strikers are doing the right thing in relation to being tracked every minute of their shift. No one can work 100% for 100% of the time especially in a physically demanding job. That results in burnout.

[@DAN-fq5bm]

Management certainly won't be putting in 100% daily

[@zacharymcintyre6648]

If they aren't working 100% of the time should their pay be reduced?

[@kryptoniterocks8245]

They never do!!!!! I see it all the time. Do the bare minimum!!!!

[@Humble_abode-k2h]

It's dangerous.

[@michaelfreedman4161]

So therefor as an employer I don’t have to pay you fully for 100% of your shift right?

[@LordTanus1]

F Woolworths. Tracking workers all day is dystopian. Humans aren’t not machines.

[@Vineethajojo]

This makes productivity worse, since it will give the workers stress. There should be a balance between controlling and freedom, because good lord this sounds like a nightmare.

[@OgglyGoogly]

Then get more machines and less humans

[@zadoww]

When your competition for a job is a robot, you won't have alot of choice but to work like one.

[@OgglyGoogly]

@@zadoww As it should be part of evolution

[@IssaMeZane]

@@OgglyGoogly That isn't part of evolution and any normal person disagrees with it.

[@msvulcanspock]

This needs to be stopped. Everyone needs to boycott Woolworths

[@shaneclarence6696]

Hold the line people. You're doing it for all of us... If you don't stop it we'll all have this

[@clintfulford8103]

Bet this technology isn’t being rolled out for Woolworths management 😒

[@josecamara9517]

Well done unions, this needs to be stopped before it becomes the standard

[@Mrs-qj3bm]

I agree well done

[@poerava]

Small minds always blame unions That’s why big business love conservatards

[@poerava]

@@josecamara9517 Big business love people like you

[@IssaMeZane]

@@poerava What does this comment mean?

[@michaelfreedman4161]

How dare an employee put in performance management for people they’re paying to do a job haha

[@ameliatah4107]

In Germany it’s illegal to track work performance electronically and rightly so

[@karenmbbaxter]

thanks for this info, I didn't know this.

[@banksiasong]

Stay strong Woolies workers, your fight is also our fight.

[@michaelfreedman4161]

The fight to be paid to be lazy

[@ErnestPiffel]

I support the workers

[@StormLord-AOS]

If Amazon is your inspiration then id suggest literally anyone or anything else. They are a repulsive concept and company.

[@jimbothegymbro7086]

agreed, amazon had to automate heavily to even function because of their miserable practice, woolies is too inept to automate that much but still greedy enough to screw everyone

[@ibanezlaney]

Other well known Australian companies are already doing equivalents of this tracking - but only to the staff on the bottom on the lowest pays who already are the hardest workers in the companies. The management and CEO etc for some reason don't lead by example.

[@PaulStewart-tj1ju]

Hold the line workers

[@nl4402]

I’m a woollies shopper, and I think good on the workers. Don’t listen to the media, we are ok and can easily shop at Coles.

[@Humble_abode-k2h]

And our independent supermarkets, butchers and green grocers😊

[@maniaq77]

and when we find out Coles have been doing exactly the same thing?

[@MP-xg4lf]

@@maniaq77 coles is likely closely watching to see if this has huge blowout or blowback to inform their 1-3 year plan or strategies. From my experience Woolworths has always been slightly ahead of coles with developments - Woolies had the delivery by independent contractors a long time ago and only in recent years gone with a completely nested independent entity with their driver mobile platform years overdue when it was touted for initial development and deployment.

[@marksmart9754]

Just another reason I don’t shop at woolworths. Their greed at profits before anything else is disgusting. First they decided not to celebrate Australia Day. Now they’re pushing everyone so hard they’re unsafe at work. Boycott them now.

[@Koyoshinkai]

Heading towards Tracking people & listening to workers, next comes Digital ID & Face Recondition Surveillance, next they will track & decide what you buy & sell.

[@majorlaff8682]

And how much money you can/can't spend.

[@edwardolickiewicz6247]

They been doing since 2000. It's just now people are finding out. As is become everyday use.

[@shaneclarence6696]

Digital identity already passed

[@SimplyGamingandTech]

Bunnings are being investigated for facial recognition now. I've worked many jobs with digital kids. All modern forklift warehousing jobs to start. Pick, pack and deliver with headset tracking, voice print, digital id to use toilets and all time and movement tracked. The Reject shop distribution centre was my first. 13 years ago. More live to work instead of work to live. Constantly being watched and monitored to make sure you are going flat out. Many of my factory customers over the past few years have gone full automation. 100 staff down to a dozen monitors and a crew of fitters and turners. Competition for the big yearly profits will never consider the workers.

[@HunkyMan777]

They already do with the everyday rewards card. They give you a small discount for your data

[@spoon2827]

I support the workers 100%

[@Ram84_1]

Following Amazon's initiative

[@markwilson1436]

Why doesn't the Woolworths CEO livestreams every second they are at work so everyone can see what they do.

[@MP-xg4lf]

because their office is likely empty ~95% of the time as they don't ever need to be there except for meetings - which can all be done remotely with better systems....

[@Hamez3000]

Well done The Project on doing some actual journalism. Finally we actually hear why they are striking.

[@michaelfreedman4161]

They’re striking because they don’t want personal responsibility

[@Hamez3000]

@@michaelfreedman4161 Such a futurist

[@Hamez3000]

@@michaelfreedman4161 Pro facial recognition technology as well right?

[@Aussie-Titan]

This is how much Woolworths cares about its employees. I worked for Woolworths and was hit by a car at work, resulting in a permanent chronic pain injury. They sacked me by email with immediate effect based on a medical report they commissioned and refused to provide me with a copy. Two weeks later, they emailed, accusing me of failing to attend a meeting to discuss my employment future despite never requesting any meeting. Obviously, the regional manager never gave it a second thought after firing me.

[@Ravioligreen180b]

Pay your workers. I can shop elsewhere for now

[@marieaudibert5692]

make a living not a killing. Goodbye Woolworth. Wake up People .start talking with your wallet.

[@seektruthenlighten]

its systematic well known abuse in retail

[@rashidajacobs7299]

After the strike, groceries are going up again! They rip up prices!!

[@spidercat2841]

F woolworths!

[@libatalklieb5793]

Bring back the little family corner shops. They were more sociable.

[@rebecca_stone]

Good on them - it surprises me that this is coming as a shock to people commenting. Amazon has been tracking warehouse staff this way for years. Corporates track employees' keyboard and mouse clicks. I mean, Woolies and Coles already have all of us shoppers working for them - scanning our own shopping, and donating our purchasing data...

[@EZGamingAllDay]

Coles has the exact same system in their distribution warehouse but no one is striking

[@grahamsilverlock8125]

Not yet but coles could possibly go out on strike they are watching to see how this strike plays out before they make there move before. Xmas?

[@tomtom1541]

Yeah but keep in mind Woolworths management has set a really high target with 100% performance. If they weren't so harsh on the employees then it wouldn't be an issue.

[@BlindBag-d8o]

Chicken 🐓 😂

[@peterbardsley2636]

These strikes have been launched through eba bargaining the union lodged a protected ballot action. That means they can't just sack the workers and replace them with scabs, if coles warehouse worker just go on strike coles has free reign to sack them.

[@JHamzz]

Coles workers went on strike around this time last year. I don't think it lasted long though.

[@BlindBag-d8o]

Woolworths supermarket now asking works to sign on on taking breaks and sign off when breaks finish 😡😡😡😡

[@michaelfreedman4161]

So they’re tracking what they’re paying for? How dare they 😂

[@urbansurvivor2391]

Jack: We are human not robots ! Woolworths : Robots dont strike or need breaks ,We should look into it.

[@michaelfreedman4161]

Exactly

[@Musichitecture]

Good on the workers for standing up to them. Woolies are nothing without them

[@neww0lf611]

This is dystopian as.

[@robinkamp1915]

Corporate greed is corporate greed, no matter how you package it, but when you try to make humans work like robots with no regulars for their well being, then it's gone way too far

[@Scott-Inc]

Working At Aldi was exactly the Same .. They will never admit to it, But ‘Extraordinary Efficiency Is Priority over all, even Staff well being!

[@MP-xg4lf]

That is Aldi's entire business model to compete though... more volume, less help - and it isn't even anywhere near the scale of some of the DC's and national warehouses / HQ's.

[@HunkyMan777]

As a senior executive, tracking workers is not acceptable.

[@bradwatson8763]

Hourly rate of $45 per hour and an additional $150 per hour if you want to monitor me, if you don’t like that than find yourself another person.

[@jamesaustralian9829]

Any employer will say "there's the door - don't hit Sanjay as his on the way in to replace you at $24 per hour on his visa"

[@michaelfreedman4161]

There are plenty of other people - your problem is you’re a low skilled easily replaceable worker - you have no ability to negotiate

[@TrentRidley]

Their supermarket employees should strike as well. Almost 3yrs ago now I resigned after 12yrs with Woolworths. A year prior I had gone to store management to report that years of continual staffing cuts had left us chronically understaffed and literally unable to complete the daily tasks of the job, nor uphold the required standards... and I'm talking tasks including the essential cleaning of food preparation areas and equipment in fresh food departments (think cured meats, raw chicken, and seafood, as well as how dangerous poor sanitary practices can be with such items). I had to endure a whole heap of gaslighting, but after more than 2hrs of debate over three meetings across four weeks, after me catching them in their lies and pointing out their inconsistencies and hypocrisy, I finally got them to admit that I was right, we were chronically understaffed. They then proceeded to tell me, however, that they wouldn't take my concerns and feedback up the chain of command because to do so would be to risk their own jobs. That's the corporate culture at Woolworths - don't rock the boat lest you might fall out. They did tell me that they'd work with me, my colleagues, and our department manager to improve things together..... that never happened and I left 12 months later, a broken man after what felt like years of abuse. If you've not experienced understaffing or monitoring like these warehouse workers that forces you to work harder than you can sustain over the long-term you might not understand just how debilitating and demoralising it can be. I finally left Woolworths having suffered chronic stress, leading to insomnia, depression, total burnout, and having flunked out of university as a consequence. Some 3yrs on and I still haven't recovered. I don't sleep well, I'm still battling depression, I haven't returned to uni, and I have barely worked over this period. This type of workplace stress isn't productive for anyone in the long run..... and it's entirely inhumane.

[@myday2704]

Thank you for sharing your story and raising awareness. I had no idea that they were such a dodgy employer and that they put customers at potential risk due to inadequate cleaning because of understaffing.

[@21_salvage51]

Can confirm and then some…. Been there over 20 years. And have sadly watched standards and practices erode beyond belief. All due to increased pressure, under-staffing and mistreatment of the workforce that remains. Working in a supermarket shouldn’t be as stressful and soul crushing as it is…. But here we are. I’m glad you got out brother.🙏🏻

[@Snap7007]

Sounds like a similair treatment/experience my best friend recently went through. Spoke up about it, upset upper management and ended up being let got/managed out as a result.

[@ev132-e2h]

I used to work in Woolies corporate-not a good employer either. They really exploit their employees to the limit. Not worth my time and energy

[@alexlanning712]

who can blame the workers

[@zappy7393]

Protesting against being like Amazon. I'm all for it in Australia. Government will never help us in this situation, it's up to us to stand with these people and if we can't find what we need, shop elsewhere!

[@rufflesal]

I used to work for another big Supermarket chain (the c word) for 18 years. They treat you worse and worse and finally replace you with automation. No talking, keep working and no living. Guess what? We live half our lives at work but aren't treated like human beings. Good on you Woolies staff alot of aussie workers know what your going through. ❤ We'll be ok keep striking!

[@arclux]

So the same people who are fine with facial recognition tech & digital IDs are complaining now.

[@TrentRidley]

Who said these warehouse workers were OK with those things?..... Or were you referring to someone else, such as the corporate/traditional media who supported the social media ban that will see all Australians have to identify themselves online because said media is in competition with social media for our engagement and as such are set to benefit from the ban?

[@sirringus]

"employers have a duty of care to their workers" cant help but feel that has not been the case for close to a decade now

[@MP-xg4lf]

Try three.

[@JennyT2023]

Woolworths seems too hard to work for, too stressful to work for. They need to change. They need to Care for their workers.

[@edanderson8382]

How is this show still on air? F woolies.

[@Alice-gz9dp]

Maybe if Woolworths did not reject people with online applications for no reason maybe they would have more workers ?????? Woolworths ?? Why reject people with experience??.

[@MP-xg4lf]

so they can abuse the oversaturated work force due to immigration and foster the exact employment intake conditions to force and threaten compliance on top of personal desperation due to cost of living and failed wage growth... employment culture is already achieving a neo communist level of oppression to the very commodity it needs - the entire premise of why amazon went to full automation (well nearly full ~98%)

[@BecxyBoo]

I used to work at Aldi and whilst we were timed while unloading stock I can't imagine being enforced to work under 100% productivity at all times because that is physically impossible for human beings to achieve. Human beings aren't machines, everyone has good and bad days at work. Monitoring and punishing your employees instead of encouraging them is not going to make your staff perform any better at there job it'll just cause them to become extremely stressed.

[@MP-xg4lf]

Worse yet no one has identified it's a subjective metric that isnt proven by process, skipping a bunch of other issues - its a conflict of interest purely on the fact that if you identify a work hazard you have to choose, a safe work environment and fired, or an unsafe work environment, an accident, fired and self regulation wont happen and it wont be enforced. I still have yet to see safe work and fair trade prove they exists on these sorts of matters without dead bodies.

[@matthewlepoidevin2024]

Woolworths wants to treat there workers like robots and are ripping there staff off timing there performance is discrimination under a blanket.

[@bruceyblowback8748]

Woolworths has been in business how long and they don't know the basics. This is next level and I hope people boycott it totally.

[@Ravioligreen180b]

Services australia does it as well. This practice is creeping into workplaces slowly

[@YevenParis-ln1jg]

Can anyone come to a realization that Australian grocery rerailers dont care less about anything but profits. They use tracking technology not only on staff but also customers and suppliers. Powerful foreign entities want this, so be it.

[@OgglyGoogly]

Its a business not a charity profit is the most important part.

[@MP-xg4lf]

@@OgglyGoogly this is the worst kind of disingenuous counter logical opposite. capitalism is by its very nature cannibalistic and in raw form deliberately omits ethics and morals, but entities dont exist - these are intangible, someone, somewhere is making a choice and ironically, duty of care is something the average Australian and worker globally can't or don't use that always gets forgotten when it suits the suits.

[@n3d_ludd379]

The lack of empathy is disgusting. Companies make record profits whilst the employees are pushed to their limits. If we don't find empathy soon we will end up with slavery again. All I hear is excuses and rich folk just want their stuff.

[@xcoachkim]

A lot of retail companies are pushing for safety first but it feels very superficial when they're always pushing for faster speeds and achieving performance metrics. The employees always get scapegoated for unrealistic goals not being met and systemic issues.

[@mohamedhassan1162]

Now there spying on the customers too,we should act

[@pemtinify]

It is interesting that in our woke age a gaze can be classed as sexual harrassment whereas the pernicious inhuman gaze of a soulless machine hour upon hour is just good business practice. Let us start off from the humanistic assumption that we are spiritual beings which need care and nourishment.

[@MP-xg4lf]

its not good business practice, its metrics at the cost of good business practice, a good employment hierarchy achieves these desired results with systems and leadership. there is no leadership in this country. I couldn't think of a single person that I would call anything like a leader. In an obscure sense the closest may be kevin rudd but hes always been a commie apologist and sympathiser. albo is just lost - must be private 'friends' if it isnt a national interest.

[@basdfgwe]

This yracking behavior needs to end, we are not their property.

[@TheShifu57]

Good on ya workers! We customers fully support you and will do our Christmas shopping elswhere....

[@louielove78]

Doesn't the fact the worker is so scared he has to hide his identity just say everything u need to know about woolworths??

[@johnsherry5642]

AGREED AND CONTROL

[@whimsy-chan1188]

Buisinesses should track outcomes not individual employees. Only when outcomes are not being met should individual employees be looked at. When we spec equipment we generally spec it to operate at 80-90% capacity to prolong working life, it should be the same for people.

[@vsboy2577]

Tracking workers should be illegal bottom line.

[@EliteURBX]

Good. This will force the not so smart elements of society to shop somewhere cheaper like Aldi. Nothing lost, really. It's not like "ban Australia Day products" Woolworths is the only supermarket in Australia.

[@Vonnie-i8b]

I think they do this at Coles to. But what do you expect. They are mostly own by Blackrock and Vanguard. Well done everyone

[@naomimurray3290]

what happened to night shelf packers - i am constantly shopping with shelf packers?

[@chromium5988]

Probably don't want to pay the penalty rates. I did night crew 25 years ago, it was good fun and we got paid pretty well.

[@naomimurray3290]

@@chromium5988 I know not to be a pain by why are ppl stocking shelves when i am shopping? Can they deal with this as well

[@MP-xg4lf]

@@chromium5988 only cbd has night crew and even then the pressure has been there for years to cull it due to costs. These are not functional requirements, they are dictated conditions because the new woolies CEO probably has to recover lost value due to poor PR due to the latest inquiries and negative market response so shareholders can get their projected earnings back. the only two groups you ever investigate in a not owned and operated corporate body is the executives and the shareholders - one of the two is the reason for the terrible business choices.

[@ragingbar]

This has been in many warehouses for years

[@MP-xg4lf]

decades* most people just arent competent or trained to truly leverage it. you dont need an AI or a digital system for that matter to track performance - of a manual job. labor , supervision and executives have grown out of touch with each other. You always see the abuse heaviest at the bottom.

[@keylanbryer14]

Spudshed is better than all the other supermarkets anyway, tony galati for PM!

[@Australia943]

It’s the pick rate… they can track how many cartons you pick per hour, or how many pallets you move.. it’s been around for 20+ years. Don’t know why it’s a problem now.. 😅.

[@MP-xg4lf]

no, they set arbitrary subjective metrics to manufacture excuses to simulate what amazon did before it went near full automation... its to manufacture high turn over employment to cut costs. This is a knee jerk reaction by a company that cant solve logistics problems because the blind pressure from HQ cant be satisfied fast enough.

[@Soulkeeper-tv8re]

There doing tracking every where these days

[@LamNguyen-tswb]

Stop shop at Woolworths for empty shelves, Dan Murphys and BigW may be next to empty shelves due to union strikes. I rather shop at Coles, ALDI, IGA, and Foodworks for full shelves.

[@MP-xg4lf]

IGA or preferably independents should be your first choice

[@gabin682000]

if you have to track your workers, that just means you have bad managers.

[@MP-xg4lf]

debateable - its been a very common undertone for a very long time in many cases from the boomers to fudge at work and barely participate and its been passed down to the younger gens; in tandem with its more indicative of a failed hierarchy / business model. Its raw greed - employees are not typically included or involved in the major share holders.

[@matthewbundesen3712]

Would be good if you could do the segment without all the loud music.

[@talltrees358]

When you think about it they dont employ people with disabilities thats discrimination against the law.

[@MP-xg4lf]

they used to.... it would be definitely insightful if a journo did their damn job and tracked or tried to tackle and see if disabled workers have leant harder on NHS recently with the radical immigration. The only disabled workers I can think of in recent memory were older gentlemen with missing arms - couldnt for the life of me speculate on the younger folk. but i can bet NHS is fudged under the pressure to vacuum up the cash and not improve their industry - not that the government is leading anything in terms of reform...

[@JV-ko6ov]

Company spends billions to create Ai that judges minimum wage workers productivity

[@multioptioned]

$38p/h minimum base wage for what would be classified as "menial" work? 😮 Robots and AI are taking over warehousing. Dandenong is state-of-the-art in warehouse automation, with more than double the product capacity of the old site and a smaller workforce. It uses robot-based control, known as an automated storage and retrieval system in a warehouse with half the number of workers as the old Hume site. Under this AI framework, so-called engineered standards or “pick rates” are designed to speed up work on the warehouse floor. Warehouse workers typically wear headsets through which they are told what items to pick and from where, via AI-generated algorithms. The use of AI and wearable technologies to speed up work and monitor employees is becoming more widespread in international logistics. This is only the beginning...😮

[@davet5273]

Time for super funds to divest from the duopoly

[@KeithDevine-k9q]

I've been trying to get Australia made can peaches,apricots and pineapple.Can only get canned peaches apricots from soujh africa it's a joke.

[@karenmbbaxter]

I noticed that too, ,,,,,,U pay a little bit more for SPC or Golden Circle but they are mostly Australian. There is a tiny bar graph on products now to show U how much of it is made in Australia, I look at this ALL THE TIME......Even some Golden Circle products are not Australian so look for the bar graph.

[@HahaDamn]

Can you stop calling strikes chaos? They aren’t, it’s a negotiation between workers and their employers - the fact there aren’t plenty of other shops and markets to go to besides Woolworths and Cole’s is because of Woolworths and Cole’s, not the striking workers

[@justinrice8509]

Fare for the company not the worker...

[@gregjameson2141]

Simple shop at ALDI, save money too

[@poerava]

Shop Aldi fam

[@rezalaaly4000]

F o Amanda.f your performance measurement.treat your workers like human beings not like robots. Lost me and my family until you pay your workers fair and treat them well.

[@bradwatson8763]

Boycotting woollies and Cole’s is a good step….by the way they are also modifying your food supply, making you infertile and sick!

[@aussietruckphotosandmodels8510]

Woolies and Coles have been doing this to their sub contractors for decades..How ever....It's all for your safety.... We're only trying to help...

[@colorfuljosh]

Stop shopping at coles and woolies. Awful companies

[@tilapiadave3234]

LMAO ,, time in motion studies ,, but it is not done for admin staff sitting on their backside in the office

[@Skippyonpc]

I support them. They just want reasonable pay at above inflation and privacy at work. This should be illegal and a breach of privacy

[@MP-xg4lf]

You don't have privacy in your presumed sense under employment... reasonable pay would require a functional government facilitating satisfactory oversight and regulation which it cant and wont do. Argument here is conflict of interests, breach of duty of care, counter intuitive practice and premise as the informed person would immediately know under a subjective '100% performance requirement' ask what about the enforced priority to maintain this metric when a work hazard is identified and violates that proposed metric? Its hostile, reductive and abusive without reproach.

[@Skippyonpc]

Making a statement like that is fundamentally wrong. The correct statement is this hasn't been tested against laws is including harassment, breach of privacy but dissemination of private information without considering consent. The real thing here is someone needs to try this and set a precedence.

[@Ogdoad3939]

ok replace them with robots. why is "productivity" such a dirty word?

[@julianmcculloch3235]

Welcome to Amazon usa.

[@paulwilden1582]

Wooloworths are full of it.

[@peterhoulis1184]

Shop at IGA

[@bashar3560]

Profit before people

[@MP-xg4lf]

profit before sovereign interests more like

[@99footballfreak]

Woolworths have just had 50 million reasons to automate the entire warehouse process. All of the sacked workers can become union reps that are only interested in signing up more members and not actually securing sustainable wage increases.

[@amirghimire12]

Woolies ceo should collaborate with Elon musk and hire robot workers as robot customers!!! Every stake holders are living beings I guess!!!

[@Bstar2024]

I bet the workers still Want to waste time on social media while at work 😂. Can’t be selective on your tech choices.

[@joansorensen-young2962]

Who’s that waving her hands.the new Brad😂

[@OgglyGoogly]

Well hire robots if they better, you dont need these workers

[@MP-xg4lf]

good luck getting custom robotics and equipment to handle fresh produce, utilise hyper accurate motor mechanics and not collapse our energy grid all at the same time when we dont even manufacture these kinds of specialized equipment...

[@OgglyGoogly]

@MP-xg4lf We have many machines that have helped harvest fresh oroduce and got rid of many human labour. It is very easy to invest higher energy outputs and things can be changed with handshakes. As for the warehouse 80 percent of it can become automated as has been done elsewhere with the comoany and many others. We can also imoort workers that wont complain as well. We can even replace all in stores shelves with robotic shelves that leave and change them selves for another stacked shelf if we wanted. Humans are not a super need here. Complain and moan about conditions want to high a wage. Then import others who dont there are qlways ways.

[@lukei6255]

Slavery. But modern.

[@ECSGAAU]

close the borders. everyones happy :)

[@johnnybereallygood]

Welcome to 1984..

[@JayMCprojectone]

Just get Tesla robots now for labour work that’s repetitive

[@MicksA]

Black Rock 🪨