Amazon has become the second company in history to have a lobbyist expelled from the European Parliament amid accusations that the company does not take it seriously.
The ban means 14 Amazon employees who had access to the European Parliament will no longer be able to enter the building without an invitation to attend a January hearing on working conditions inside fulfillment centers. This follows the company's decision not to. In December, Amazon also rejected the lawmakers' request. [members of European Parliament] Some people have asked to tour the fulfillment center due to the busy Christmas period.
“This is not a serious treatment of the European Parliament,” said Dragoš Pislar, a Romanian lawmaker and head of the parliament's employment and social affairs committee, who formally called for the ban. “We represent 500 million people, so it's no joke. We can't simply say a senior member is absent when Parliament is asking a question.”
Companies based outside Europe should take the EU parliament as seriously as the US Congress, he added. “The European Parliament is not holding a grudge,” he says. “This demands that we be respected as an organization.”
The uproar comes amid growing concerns about working conditions at Amazon fulfillment centers in Europe. In January, France's data protection authority fined Amazon 32 million euros ($34 million) for operating what it called an “overly intrusive system for monitoring the activities of its employees.” was punished. In November, Amazon workers in Germany and Italy walked off the job on Black Friday to demand better pay and working conditions. Amazon claims to have 150,000 employees in the EU.
“The fact that we call and Amazon refuses to come and state their case is worrying,” Pisral said. “This is not my subjective opinion. This is based on how Congress should function.”
Pisral first requested the revocation of Amazon's lobbying permit in a Feb. 6 letter to the speaker of Congress following Amazon's January no-show. “This issue goes beyond contempt for the European Parliament. It concerns the well-being, fundamental rights and working conditions of hundreds of thousands of Europeans working in Amazon warehouses,” he said in the letter. Stated. The letter added that it is unreasonable for Amazon to lobby lawmakers while denying them the right to investigate its own labor practices.
The idea to ban Amazon's lobbyists has been around since 2021, when the company first rejected an invitation from the European Parliament to attend another hearing on working conditions, Pisral said. However, following his February letter, the European Parliament last night confirmed it would strip Amazon lobbyists of their access badges. This means Amazon becomes the second company to be stripped of access to the European Parliament, following the 2017 ban on Roundup maker Monsanto. Monsanto's ban lasted until the company was acquired by Bayer the following year.
Amazon said in a statement on its website that it was “disappointed” by the decision. The company described the January hearing, which it did not attend, as “one-sided and not designed to encourage constructive discussion.” The company said it had extended “dozens of invitations” to its facilities to committee members and staff. On February 5, Amazon sent a letter to Pisral inviting the commission to visit one of its 80 fulfillment centers in Europe. But official EU missions are not allowed so close to June's EU elections, Pisral said. “It was like they were willing to invite us even though they knew we couldn’t go.”
Pisral said Amazon's lobbying pass could be reinstated if the EU employment committee finds that the company is genuinely cooperating. That is unlikely to happen before the election, as lawmakers rush to finalize unfinished legislation and prepare for campaigning. Until their passes are restored, Amazon's lobbyists can only enter the EU parliament if invited by those working inside. “They can still lobby individual MPs, and they can still meet with them outside parliament,” said Blum, who specializes in big technology and works at the European Business Observatory, a campaign group.・Mr. Franken says: “This is primarily a very important political signal that the company has gone too far.”
For Vranken, the ban is a good first step. “I would like to see the ban made permanent and extended to all big tech companies,” he said, adding that this would prevent big tech companies from watering down important laws. Ta.
“Permanent bans are not always justified,” Pisral said. “Unless, of course, their actions continue to make a mockery of this organization.”