Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
An Amazon fulfilment centre in Peterborough
An Amazon fulfilment centre in Peterborough. Unions accused the company of planning to ‘ramp up surveillance of workers’ around the world. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images
An Amazon fulfilment centre in Peterborough. Unions accused the company of planning to ‘ramp up surveillance of workers’ around the world. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

Trade unions urge EU to investigate Amazon effort to spy on workers

This article is more than 3 years old

Three UK unions among signatories to letter calling for action against tech firm

European trade union leaders, including three UK unions, have called on the European commission to open an investigation into Amazon’s “potentially illegal” effort to spy on workers for union activities.

The heads of some of Europe’s biggest unions, representing more than 12 million workers, wrote to the commission to demand an investigation into Amazon’s work practices across the continent. The move comes after the US tech firm advertised jobs for which part of the description was investigating the threat of organised labour against the company.

Paddy Lillis, the general secretary of Usdaw, along with Mick Rix, a national officer of GMB, and Dave Ward, the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, are among the 37 signatories to the letter. They also include the German union ver.di, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour and Spain’s biggest trade union, CCOO.

“Amazon’s plans to ramp up surveillance of workers across Europe and globally are yet another reminder that EU institutions should closely investigate Amazon’s business and workplace practices throughout the continent, as we suspect them to be in breach of European labour, data and privacy laws that our citizens expect to enjoy,” says the letter, which is addressed to Nicolas Schmit, the European commissioner for jobs and social rights, and Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for internal market.

Vice and others reported this month that Amazon had posted job listings for two “intelligence analysts” to track “labor organizing threats against the company” and “funding and activities connected to corporate campaigns (internal and external) against Amazon”. The company deleted the listings hours after posting them, after they drew heavy criticism from labour activist groups.

The posting had sought an analyst fluent in languages including French and Spanish, suggesting that European workers would be monitored, says the letter to the commission, quoting the media reports.

Amazon has been hostile to attempts by employees to form unions to improve working conditions, especially in the US. The company has recently enjoyed strong sales growth because of a surge in online shopping since the coronavirus outbreak, and has gone on a global hiring spree, taking on 27,000 seasonal and permanent workers in the UK alone this year.

“Further, we don’t want to see the growth of a union busting industry in Europe as we have seen in the US,” the letter says.

The EU is planning to roll out the Digital Services Act, a directive that will update rules for the digital economy. The full scope of the package is being negotiated but it will cover content and user moderation as well as new competition rules for “gatekeeper platforms” such as Google, Apple and Amazon. The commission is due to present its plans in December.

Sign up to the daily Business Today email or follow Guardian Business on Twitter at @BusinessDesk

“The revelations have been accumulating over the past weeks: the corporation led by the richest person in the world is spying on some of the lowest-paid workers in the EU,” said Oliver Roethig, the regional secretary of UNI Europa, part of the UNI Global Union federation.

“Amazon has led the raid on workers’ rights, using its data-monopoly power to crush efforts by workers to improve their conditions. Now it is ramping up its espionage operations. Its abuses call for special attention. It is time for the EU to act.”

Amazon has been contacted for comment.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Amazon drops $1.4bn deal to buy iRobot after EU veto reports

  • Amazon Prime Video streaming content to include ‘limited advertisements’

  • ‘What do we want? £15!’ Hundreds join Amazon picket line for Black Friday strike

  • ‘Make Amazon Pay’ Black Friday strikes planned in 30 countries including UK

  • CMA to investigate UK cloud computing market amid Microsoft and Amazon concerns

  • Amazon to invest up to $4bn in OpenAI rival Anthropic

  • Amazon CEO tells staff ‘it’s probably not going to work out’ unless they visit office three days a week

  • CMA to investigate Amazon’s $1.7bn takeover of Roomba firm

  • Amazon in talks with UK microchip designer Arm over becoming anchor investor

  • Amazon workers in Coventry announce six new strike dates

Most viewed

Most viewed