The Warehouse staff defecating in distribution centre aisles, union alleges

More than 300 staff from The Warehouse's distribution centres in Auckland and Christchurch are striking on Thursday over fears that technology will take over their jobs.Workers First Union claimed its members' bathroom breaks were being tracked by artificial intelligence, leading to instances of staff urinating and defecating in distribution aisles.The Warehouse strongly denied these claims, and said it was shocked and appalled that they were being made.Union organiser Hayley Courtney told RNZ she had been fighting the issue for eight months."Having supervisors and managers follow people to the toilet and telling them off for a fundamental right is absolutely ludicrous."Drones used for stocktaking had been introduced to the distribution centres, which Courtney said had cut down the size of the physical inventory team.She said workers were striking for employment security, seeking assurances in contracts that they could not be easily replaced when technology arrived.Ratifying an employment agreement without achieving any protection over future employment "would be like signing their own death warrant", she said.Hayley Courtney is a First Union organiser.RNZ / Blessen TomThe Warehouse Group people officer Richard Parker said he was "shocked and appalled by the union's claim that our team members are urinating and defecating on the floor at work"."This has never happened."Parker said bathroom use was not tracked, and this was made very clear to teams."We use technology, which is not AI as claimed, that has been commonly used in distribution centres around the world for decades to monitor efficiency through scanning devices. It has nothing to do with bathroom use."He said there had been no job losses as a result of introducing stocktaking drones at distribution centres."In fact, we currently have three additional temp roles in this area. The drones improve stock accuracy and the customer experience, while making our distribution centres safer by removing the need for people to work at height in machinery every night."He said no employer could guarantee what roles would look like in the future, but that they would consult, retrain, and redeploy people where they could."The new automation is designed to increase capacity and efficiency, and our team are doing an excellent job learning new skills and working with new technology."He said he did not anticipate any disruptions to stores or customers due to the strike.