EU lawmakers agree with union demands on scrutiny of working conditions at Amazon warehouses

BRUSSELS, 21 November – European Union lawmakers have reached an agreement on scrutiny of working conditions at Amazon warehouses in line with demands by European trade unions earlier this week. Under the agreement, Amazon must attend a hearing in the Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) before Members of European Parliament go on a fact-finding mission meeting Amazon officials and workers’ representatives at its warehouses. Subsequently, the Committee would decide, without any automatic guarantee, on the readmission of Amazon lobbyists to the European Parliament. The decision comes after European trade unions, including UNI Europa and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), sent a letter to lawmakers on Monday outlining these conditions. The letter also urged them to consider Amazon’s history of alleged union-busting and refusal to engage in collective bargaining as part of their deliberations.

On today’s decision, Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary of UNI Europa, said:

“Earlier this year, Amazon’s lobbyists were banned from the European Parliament for refusing to face democratic scrutiny. Now, as the company asks for a dialogue again, we commend EU lawmakers setting clear and strict conditions for a parliamentary fact-finding mission and a hearing. Crucially, this includes listening to workers’ representatives and trade unions to paint a full pictures of what is going in Amazon’s warehouses.”

On 10 October, Amazon sent a letter to EMPL coordinator Li Andersson to re-open dialogue after Members of European Parliament banned Amazon lobbyists from the Parliament in February. The company had refused multiple times to participate in a parliamentary hearing and cancelled parliamentarians’ official visit to observe working conditions in its warehouses. Over 30 trade unions and civil society organisations, including UNI Europa, Corporate Europe Observatory, LobbyControl and SOMO had sent a joint letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola demanding a ban of Amazon lobbyists. Two months later, UNI Europa coordinated coordinated a visit of S&D MEPs with Amazon workers and trade union representatives in Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands to hear first-hand stories of workers.

Last month, an investigation by the EU Transparency Register revealed that Amazon Europe updated its lobbying spending figures to over €5 million back in August. The new figures were published after a civil society complaint exposed two thinks tanks and two lobbies on the US multinational’s payroll that were not properly registered.

For more information, contact daniel.kopp@uniglobalunion.org