Aussie Amazon workers lagging behind in re-training as tech giant continues global automation rollout
Australian workers at one of the world’s largest companies are missing out on crucial AI and robotics retraining.
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Staff at Amazon Australia are not a priority for the massive upskilling happening across the e-commerce behemoth’s global network.
At a conference this week in Japan, Amazon announced its one millionth warehouse robot was now in use across the planet.
The company says globally, 700,000 Amazon workers have been formally “upskilled” to keep up with this wave of automation - but Australians account for a tiny fraction of these workers.
Only one of Amazon Australia’s eight “fulfilment centre” warehouses have the company’s patented product-shifting, AI-operated robots; as Amazon accelerates its AI and robotics goals, the company argues relatively few job losses will result, contending people doing repetitive manual tasks will be retrained and “upskilled”.
Compared to Amazon’s warehouses in comparable countries, Australian facilities are a step behind the company’s newest technology, meaning retraining Australian workers to fix and maintain Amazon’s robots is lagging.
Information from Amazon says the company has created 700 new categories of jobs globally since introducing robots.
A proposed highly-robotised Melbourne warehouse will create more than 2000 jobs, requiring entry-level workers up to engineers and operations managers.
“Australia is one of our last countries to have launched … we’re in the process of scaling-up the program.”
*Amazon paid for NewsWire’s travel and accommodation in Japan
Originally published as Aussie Amazon workers lagging behind in re-training as tech giant continues global automation rollout
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