Amazon Cannot Be ‘Off the Hook’ for EU Democratic Scrutiny
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More than 30 trade unions and civil society organizations, including the Clean Clothes Campaign and UNI Global Union, have thrown their support behind European Union lawmakers’ demand to strip Amazon lobbyists of their parliamentary access until the retail juggernaut is “willing to engage in genuine dialogue” about labor concerns at its distribution centers.
“The European Parliament must use its full powers to ensure Amazon, and other big companies, cannot continue avoiding democratic scrutiny,” said a joint letter to European Parliament president Roberta Metsola on Monday. “This means triggering Rule 123 (Access to Parliament).”
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The move follows what members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, or EMPL, characterized as Amazon’s “refusal” to attend a hearing in January, shortly after it “canceled” a visit by a Members of the European Parliament delegation to its warehouses in Germany and Poland the month before.
“We have received a letter that today was not a good day for [Amazon],” Dragoş Pîslaru, chair of the EMPL committee said at the time. “I presume that for a company that has a size and representation, there might have been some people that could have replaced the one that couldn’t make it today.”
On the day of the planned hearing, France’s data protection agency fined Amazon 32 million euros ($34 million) for employing an “excessively intrusive” surveillance system to monitor employee performance. Workers were not adequately informed about the surveillance, the agency known as CNIL added.
An Amazon spokesperson called the findings “factually incorrect” and that its “industry standard” management system was necessary to “guarantee security, quality and efficiency.”
In early February, Pîslaru wrote to Metsola urging her to revoke the Whole Foods owner’s lobby badges, saying that “it is unreasonable for members to be lobbied by Amazon while at the same time being deprived of the right to represent the interests of European citizens and inquire about claims of breaches of fundamental rights enshrined in EU Treaties and EU labor laws.” The ban could be lifted “when the company’s management is willing to engage in genuine dialogue with the Parliament and address our sincere concerns,” he added.
Amazon workers have long complained of arduous hours in a high-pressure environment that pays poor wages. This past Black Friday, employees across 30 countries, including Germany, Italy and Spain, went on what was deemed the “biggest ever global strike.” The Everything Store has also been accused of union busting, tax avoidance, market power abuse and health and safety lapses that have at times proven fatal.
In his letter to Metsola, Pîslaru said that “stark testimonies on the challenging conditions faced by Amazon workers” have “only amplified” the EMPL committee’s concerns.
An Amazon spokesperson said that the company “welcomes opportunities” for “constructive dialogue” on issues facing the logistics industry and remains committed to engaging with the committee.
“Many members of the European Parliament have visited our fulfillment centers across the EU in the past and we have reiterated our offer to host committee members at one of our facilities in the near future,” the spokesperson said. “This will allow committee members to see firsthand the investments we’ve made to ensure that our work environments are modern, engaging and safe.”
The spokesperson said that Amazon did not “cancel” the December visit. Rather, the EMPL committee proposed dates that it could not accommodate during its busiest time of the year. The e-tail giant sent a letter to Pîslaru early last week inviting the EMPL committee to one of its warehouses in early April, though it has yet to receive a reply.
Writing to Metsola, the trade unions and civil society organizations took Amazon to task, however, for what they said was “willful obstruction of the democratic scrutiny” of its activities. The letter said that the Jeff Bezos-founded firm has been accused of “shadow lobbying” by failing to report on its affiliations to several think tanks in the EU Transparency Register and declaring a lobbying budget “seemingly too low.” It said that Amazon employs 14 lobbyists with European Parliament accreditation and that it has spent at least 18.8 million euros ($20.3 million) since 2013 lobbying European institutions.
Amazon did not respond to those specific allegations.
“Amazon’s disregard for the EU’s democratic institutions, should not allow the company to get off the hook,” the letter added. “We ask you to implement Rule 123 of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament and call for an immediate withdrawal of all lobbying badges of the company.”
