Over 300 New Zealand warehouse workers protest AI monitoring and bathroom break restrictions.

Workers at New Zealand’s largest retailer have claimed that they were forced to defecate in the distribution aisles after their bathroom breaks were tracked by artificial intelligence (AI). Over 300 employees working at The Warehouse Group’s distribution centres in Auckland and Christchurch staged protests this week against technology monitoring them and taking over their jobs.

Union organiser Hayley Courtney highlighted that the upper management reprimanded the employees who took bathroom breaks and that 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,” Courtney was quoted as saying by Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

Courtney said the company had brought in a “massive robot” for stock picking, while AI-powered drones replaced some members of the physical inventory team. She said workers weren’t against technology that improves efficiency but needed assurances about their future.

“And AI is now tracking how long people spend on bathroom breaks,” she said, adding that there have been several accidents due to staff “trying to hold on” instead of going to the toilet.

“We’d been finding things on the floor. It did stop once I put my foot down, but there were accidents on the floor; we don’t know who it was or anything. Obviously, it’s very humiliating if you’re forced into that position, but there were multiple occasions where this occurred,” she said..

The company, however, has denied the allegations, stating it was shocked and appalled by the claims made. Warehouse Group chief people officer, Richard Parker, defended the decision to use drones, explaining that it made the job safer for employees.

“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,” said Parker.

“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.”

The company said no employer can guarantee what roles will look like in the future, but it will always consult the workers and aim to retrain and redeploy them.