Amazon used AI tool to assess union risk at Canadian warehouses, documents show

VANCOUVER · Amazon deployed an artificial intelligence tool to evaluate the risk of unionization at its Canadian warehouses, internal documents reveal. The company used the AI system, called Atlas, to assign a "labour risk" score to each facility. These documents were obtained as part of hearings between Amazon and Unifor at the British Columbia Labour Relations Board. The tool analyzed hundreds of data points to create a framework for assessing "emerging workforce issues," "labour union targets" and "internal or external labour threats." Amazon used this model across more than 50 warehouses in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson said the gathered information helps the company identify trends. "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," Stephenson said. He did not specify if Atlas is still in use in Canada or if another AI tool has replaced it. The documents do not indicate what specific data points the system uses or how Amazon collects them.

The YVR2 and YVR3 warehouses in the Vancouver area recorded the highest numbers of these events, with 52 and 47 respectively. Justin Gniposky, Unifor's director of organizing, believes the documents are from late 2024 or early 2025 because they mention "active card signing" at YVR2 from that period. "This information just proves to us what we have always thought and what we have always heard from workers: that Amazon views unionization as a threat and a risk to its business," Gniposky said. Stephenson rejected the characterization of Atlas as a surveillance tool, stating it uses data on safety, leadership and training.

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"Interpreting this feedback requires human review, not automated decision-making," Stephenson said. He did not answer a question about whether monitoring employee behaviour and communications feeds the system's scores. Gniposky said Unifor contacts workers only through private channels and is unaware of any covert monitoring by Amazon in Canada. The documents also include guidance for managers on discussing unions with employees while following labour laws.

One document advises managers they cannot spy but can maintain normal routines like eating in the break room. Another instructs them to tell workers that union negotiations could result in the "same, less or more" for them. Vancouver lawyer Menachem Freedman noted B.C. has strict privacy rules requiring employers to inform staff about data collection. "Before employers collect personal information, they need to tell employees beforehand what information they are collecting, why and how it will be used," Freedman said.

He added that any data collection must be reasonable. "So employers need to be clear on how much information they are sweeping up when using AI, and whether this is something they even need to be doing in the first place," Freedman said. It remains unclear how Amazon currently ranks its warehouses or if it still uses the Atlas system. Amazon and Unifor continue to negotiate a first collective agreement for the unionized Delta warehouse.

With files from The Globe and Mail