Topical News Lessons

Fill the gaps using these words from the text: 
warehouse
workplace
delivery
vest
shelf
wrist
theft
measure
1.
A ____________ is a shirt with no sleeves that people often wear under an
ordinary shirt, especially in winter.
2.
The joint between your hand and your arm is called your ____________.
3. ____________
is
stealing
things from another person or from a company.
4.
People often keep books on a ____________ .
5.
A ____________ is a large building used for storing goods and food.
6.
A ____________ is an action which a government takes.
7.
____________ means taking goods from one place to another.
8.
The place where people work is called their ____________ .
The text talks about the use of computers in supermarkets. How many of the 
uses of computers below can you find in the text? 
1.
to reduce costs
2.
to increase the efficient delivery of goods and food to stores
3. to
supply
prisons
4.
to send messages to workers
5.
to check what workers are doing
6.
to find out what time workers finish work
7.
to send orders to workers’ computers
8.
to check if workers are taking breaks without permission
9.
to control humans
10.
to remove waste and reduce theft

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©
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2005

Taken from the news section in
www.onestopenglish.com
Firms tag workers to improve 
efficiency 
David Hencke 
Some British supermarket companies are
asking their warehouse workers to wear small
computers, called “electronic tags”. The
companies say that these tags will help them
to reduce costs and increase the efficient
delivery of goods and food to stores. The
system uses American satellite and radio
technology to send messages to the workers.
In a report Professor Blakemore from the
University of Durham said that the use of
these tags was making some workplaces more
like prisons.
The technology arrived from the US at the
start of the year and more and more
companies are using it. Almost 10,000
employees are using it to supply goods to
well-known British supermarkets. Trade
unionists representing workers are worried
that companies could use the technology to
check what workers are doing. They are
asking for special measures to make sure that
this does not happen.
Under the system workers have to wear
computers on their wrists, arms and fingers,
and sometimes they have to wear a special
vest containing a computer that instructs them
where to go to collect goods from warehouse
shelves. The system also allows the store to
send orders to workers’ computers. The
computer can also check if workers are taking
breaks without permission and can calculate
the shortest time a worker needs to complete a
job.
Britain already has more street security
cameras than any other country in the world,
and some experts are worried that this new
system could make Britain the most watched
country in the world.
In his report Professor Blakemore said there
was a danger that computers were controlling
humans rather than humans using computers.
Some people are also worried that the new
technology could cause industrial injuries
because workers had to make the same
movements with their arms and wrists again
and again.
But the companies say that the system makes
the delivery of food more efficient. It also
removes waste, reduces theft and can reorder
goods more quickly. A spokeswoman for a
supermarket said that the company was not
using the technology to check what its staff
were doing. She said it was making
employees’ work easier and reducing the need
for paper.
But a trade union spokesman, Paul Campbell,
said: “We are getting reports of people
leaving their jobs after just a few days and in
some cases just a few hours. They are all
saying they don’t like the job because they
have no input. They are just following a
computer’s instructions”.
American companies are working on new
computer equipment that can check what
workers are doing. One system will check
how many times secretaries hit the keys on
their word processors, and another will check
how much work workers are doing.
The Guardian Weekly
10/06/2005, page 9

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©
Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2005

Taken from the news section in
www.onestopenglish.com