Category Archives: Amazon

EU events on curbing big tech ‘distorted’ by attenders with industry links

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Campaigners say 21% of people at workshops did not disclose on their applications relationships with firms being discussed

More than one in five attenders at EU events on regulating big tech companies did not disclose links to the industry when applying to take part, according to transparency campaigners who say hidden networks are distorting public debate.

Researchers at three NGOs analysed nearly 4,000 registrations at European Commission workshops organised earlier this year to test companies’ compliance with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a law to curb anti-competitive behaviour.

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The great divide: are office workers more productive than those at home?

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Amazon has told staff they must return five days a week – but experts don’t all agree that flexible working cuts output

Four years ago when the world of work was upended by the Covid pandemic, confident predictions were made that a permanent shift in remote working would follow the removal of lockdown restrictions.

Much has clearly changed since. Some of the earliest preachers of the brave new teleworking world – including the US tech companies Google and Microsoft – are among the most vocal to repent.

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‘We don’t stop for red lights’: drone deliveries taking off as Australian regulators prepare for air traffic boom

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With everything from coffee to mining equipment now being delivered by drone, operators are exploring technology to stop connection black spots sending drones dropping from the sky

Jani Talikka was a commercial pilot flying Boeing 717s, but after ordering a drone delivery as a customer, he decided to shift gears.

“I didn’t leave fixed-wing aviation because I disliked it – but drones are cutting edge,” he told Guardian Australia. “It’s rare you get to be a part of something like this at the start.”

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Ambulances called to Amazon’s UK warehouses 1,400 times in five years

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GMB union urges Health and Safety Executive to investigate ‘shocking’ figures revealed by the Observer

Ambulances have been called out to Amazon warehouses more than 1,400 times in the past five years, the Observer can reveal. The figures, which were described as shocking by the GMB trade union, raise fresh questions about safety at the American giant’s UK workplaces.

Amazon centres in Dunfermline and Bristol had the most ambulance callouts in Britain, listing 161 and 125 across the period respectively.

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Workers accuse Google of ‘tantrum’ after 50 fired over Israel contract protest

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Tech giant fired number of people who protested against $1.2bn Project Nimbus, which supports Israeli military and government

Google has been accused of throwing a “tantrum” after sacking more than 50 workers in response to a protest over the company’s military ties to the Israeli government – firings that have shone a light on a controversial project and long-simmering tensions between staff and management.

The workers were sacked following protests at Google offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, organized by No Tech for Apartheid – an alliance of Google and Amazon workers who have been protesting against a $1.2bn contract with the Israeli government called Project Nimbus that they claim will make it “easier for the Israeli government to surveil Palestinians and force them off their land”.

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Neil Young to return music to Spotify as he attacks ‘disinformation’ across streaming services

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Rock star left Spotify in 2022 in protest over podcaster Joe Rogan, but says he can’t keep up fight as Rogan broadens distribution to Apple, YouTube and Amazon

Neil Young is to return his music to Spotify after keeping it off the streaming platform for more than two years.

Young removed his entire catalogue from the world’s biggest streaming company in January 2022, in protest against Joe Rogan whose chart-topping podcast was exclusive to Spotify.

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Major US corporations threaten to return labor to ‘law of the jungle’

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Trader Joe’s and SpaceX are among businesses challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board

Upset by the surge in union drives, several of the best-known corporations in the US are seeking to cripple the country’s top labor watchdog, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), by having it declared unconstitutional. Some labor experts warn that if those efforts succeed, US labor relations might return to “the law of the jungle”.

In recent weeks, Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well as Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have filed legal papers that advance novel arguments aimed at hobbling and perhaps shutting down the NLRB – the federal agency that enforces labor rights and oversees unionization efforts. Those companies are eager to thwart the NLRB after it accused Amazon, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s of breaking the law in battling against unionization and accused SpaceX of illegally firing eight workers for criticizing Musk.

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Amazon’s Expats series not available in Hong Kong, where it is set

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First two episodes inaccessible to viewers in city, with some attributing censorship to umbrella protest scenes

Amazon’s big-ticket series Expats, set and filmed in Hong Kong, is not available for viewing in the city despite being billed as a worldwide release.

The first two episodes of the drama, starring Nicole Kidman and directed by The Farewell’s Lulu Wang, were released on Friday but listed as “currently unavailable” for viewers in Hong Kong. The series, based on a 2016 novel, The Expatriates, focuses on the lives of three American women in Hong Kong.

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Big tech boom or bust? Experts see signs of strength after wave of layoffs

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Even as more job cuts await, some analysts see the beginnings of a bull market in the coming season of earnings reports

Will 2024 be a boom or a bust for big tech? By one estimate, there have been more than 7,500 layoffs in the sector since the start of the year – a dispersal of pink slips that many hoped would have ceased after the deep job cuts of 2023.

However, as the US’s big tech earnings season gets under way this week, some analysts are predicting strong numbers. This batch of quarterly financial results may show that the industry has cleared out its pandemic-era overhiring and reorganised itself around cloud computing and AI - necessitating cuts in sectors with less rosy prospects. Analysts keen on AI say we are at the start of a tech bull market.

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Hard-up this holiday? Amazon flyer tells workers to ask company mascot for help

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Workers making $17 an hour not impressed by holiday offer from company that just tripled profits to $9.9bn

Amazon is asking workers experiencing hardship to write a letter to its company mascot, Peccy, this holiday season so “some of their holiday wishes can come true”.

A flyer from the Amazon warehouse SWF1 in Rock Tavern, New York, states: “Are you or someone you know facing financial hardship this holiday season? Peccy wants to help! Write a letter to Peccy. If the Peccy team selects you, some of your holiday wishes could come true!”

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Online marketplaces report surge in sales of secondhand goods

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Amazon, eBay and others record rise in reselling as cost of living crisis bites and customers try to shop sustainably

Online marketplaces are experiencing a surge in sales of secondhand goods amid the cost of living crisis and customers choosing to shop more sustainably.

Amazon said it had seen a 15% increase in sales of secondhand goods in the first nine months of the year, with sales across the UK and Europe hitting £1bn a year.

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Macy’s workers launch Black Friday strike in Washington state

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About 400 workers walk out in dispute over allegedly unfair labor practices and failure to agree new contract

About four hundred Macy’s workers in Washington state began striking on Friday – known as Black Friday among retailers and one of the year’s busiest shopping days – citing allegedly unfair labor practices and the retail giant’s purported refusal to agree to a new contract.

The union representing the employees, UFCW 3000, said workers started arriving about 3am on Friday to form picket lines. Workers are striking outside the Alderwood, Southcenter and Bellis Fair Macy’s stores and plan to continue for three days.

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‘What do we want? £15!’ Hundreds join Amazon picket line for Black Friday strike

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Trade unionists from US and Europe stand with staff at Coventry hub over local pay dispute amid global day of action

Hundreds of strikers outside Amazon’s Coventry warehouse were joined on Black Friday by trade unionists from Europe and the US as part of a global campaign calling for better working conditions at the internet retailer.

Wearing orange beanie hats branded with the GMB union logo, activists from Germany, Italy and California, on strike at their respective Amazon workplaces, expressed solidarity with the Coventry strikers, who have taken 28 days of industrial action since January.

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Amazon and Facebook owner Meta agree to protect consumers, CMA says

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Sites agree to stop practices that give them an unfair advantage over businesses and shoppers

The UK’s competition watchdog has said it has secured commitments from Amazon and the Facebook owner Meta to protect consumers on their marketplaces.

The agreements come after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched separate investigations into Amazon, which sells its own products and allows sellers to retail via its online marketplace function, and Meta, which owns Facebook Marketplace.

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Fears of employee displacement as Amazon brings robots into warehouses

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Digit will begin its time on the floor by shifting empty tote boxes amid concerns humans will be shifted out of jobs

Amazon is experimenting with a humanoid robot as the technology company increasingly seeks to automate its warehouses.

It has started testing Digit, a two-legged ​r​obot that can grasp and lift items, at facilities this week. The device is first being used to shift empty tote boxes.

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Waitrose in talks with Amazon over online grocery deal, says report

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Supermarket said to be considering third-party deal after share of UK market falls

Waitrose is reportedly in talks with Amazon to sell groceries via the internet marketplace, in an attempt to lure in more shoppers and claw back market share.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that the upmarket supermarket, part of the John Lewis Partnership, and Amazon were discussing a third-party deal, after the world’s biggest online retailer struck a similar agreement with the supermarket Iceland recently.

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Amazon driver in serious condition after rattlesnake bite in Florida

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Driver was delivering package to Palm City home when she was bitten by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake near the front door

A Florida Amazon delivery driver is in serious condition after being bitten by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake.

The driver was delivering a package to a home in Palm City on Monday when she was bitten by the snake which was coiled up near the front door of the delivery location, according to the Martin county sheriff’s office (MCSO) in south-eastern Florida.

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EU unveils package of laws to curb power of big tech firms

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‘Revolutionary’ Digital Markets Act aims to allow more competition and let consumers delete preloaded phone apps

The EU has unveiled a set of “revolutionary” laws to curb the power of six big tech companies, including allowing consumers to decide what apps they want on their phone and to delete pre-loaded software such as Google or Apple’s maps apps.

The package of laws will also pave the way for more competition in some of the areas most guarded by the tech firms, including Apple Wallet and Google Pay.

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US publisher of pro-fascist books revealed as military veteran

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Bailey Ross, reported air force reservist and former Coast Guard service member, linked to Agartha Publishing in South Dakota

The Guardian has identified a trainee nurse and reported US air force reservist called Bailey Ross as the proprietor of a white nationalist publisher in South Dakota.

Ross was also a paid-up member of a white nationalist organization that marched at Charlottesville while enlisted in the United States Coast Guard.

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Small firms fear going bust as Amazon extends wait time for sale proceeds

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Marketplace sellers in UK and rest of Europe say having to wait over a week means they will struggle to pay staff and loans

Amazon has told thousands of marketplace sellers in the UK and continental Europe it will hold on to sale proceeds for more than a week in a move that small businesses say could force them to go bust.

The company has written to sellers to inform them it will no longer credit their accounts as soon as a sale is made online but will do so a week after an item has been delivered.

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