Leaked internal reports shed light on Amazon’s worker surveillance tactics

Leaked documents shed light on the methods Amazon intelligence analysts use to track union-organizing activity throughout Europe, Vice reports. In one instance, the company hired Pinkerton operatives (the spy agency famous for busting unions) to investigate managers in Poland, undercover. The company also monitors broader social movements on social media to suss out any potential threats (read: efforts to unionize) to fulfillment center operations. The revelations come just ahead of the company’s busiest season, at a time of year when European workers have typically staged demonstrations. “Most American companies that try to succeed in Europe have adapted to the fact that there are strong unions here,” one expert said. “But Amazon is an outlier.”