March 9, 2020
Photo by istock.com
The move by Amazon to sell its cashierless technology to retailers and grocers is coming under fire from the largest retail union in the U.S.
The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union calls Amazon’s technology a threat to 16 million jobs and claims it is a Trojan horse aimed at accessing customer data of competitors.
“Let there be no doubt that Amazon represents a direct threat to 16 million American retail jobs and is part of a ruthless strategy to eliminate as many good jobs as possible,” said UFCW International President Marc Perrone in a statement released Monday.“This so-called cashierless technology is nothing but a trojan horse that will let Amazon control and monopolize competing retailers and give Jeff Bezos direct access to their customer data. It is time for regulators and our elected leaders to act before Amazon does lasting damage to our already-fragile economy.”
The union believes that expansion of Just Walk Out, the name of Amazon’s platform, will have more than a few negative impacts, including discriminating against 24 million underbanked U.S. households.
“Together, these recent moves are part of a broader and aggressive campaign by Amazon to further dominate the U.S. retail industry and force its competitors to rely on Amazon technology to stay in business,” the union stated in the statement.
Topics: Contactless / NFC, Mobile Apps, Mobile Payments, POS, Retail, Technology Providers