Amazon and the European Parliament are at odds over whether a boss from the US tech giant should appear before a parliamentary committee later this month, sources familiar with the matter told Euronews.
The Parliament has made the 26 June hearing at the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL) a precondition for Amazon regaining access to its premises, after the tech giant's access badges were withdrawn in February last year because the company failed to attend a series of hearings and factory visits in 2021 and 2023 related to workers’ rights.
The committee has asked London-based Senior Vice President Russell Grandinetti to appear before it. Grandinetti joined the company in 1998 and is now responsible for leading Amazon’s international e-commerce business across Europe, UK, Japan, India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, the Middle East and Australia.
In an email exchange seen by Euronews, Amazon responded saying that two other senior officials – Luxembourg-based Stefano Perego, vice president of international operations and global operations services, and Lucy Cronin, a Dublin-based vice president for EU public policy – would be better placed to answer the committee’s questions on working conditions.
But the committee is resisting those speakers, claiming they don't meet the required level of seniority, and is refusing to accept them.
The email did not specify whether the hearing would be cancelled. Euronews understands that the hearing will still go ahead.
Other speakers that were scheduled to attend the EMPL hearing were representatives from unions as well as Amazon workers.
During a UK parliamentary hearing on the Employment Rights Bill last December, Amazon representatives that attended were directors, a level below Perego and Cronin in terms of seniority.
Working conditions
During its previous five-year mandate, the EMPL committee twice invited Amazon to discuss working conditions in its EU facilities. But in May 2021 and January 2024, the company declined the invitations. Planned visits to facilities in Poland and Germany scheduled for December 2023 also never took place.
Last November the Parliament said Amazon must attend a hearing and arrange for MEPs to visit one of its fulfilment centres before it would consider lifting the restrictions.
Lawmaker Laila Chaibi (France, GUE/NGL) said in a reaction to Euronews that: "Workers are deprived of their rights, they are watched continuously, pressured by their leadership constantly. [...] And once again, when elected representatives ask for a visit, we are blocked, it's easier to visit a prison facility than an Amazon warehouse."
Oliver Roethig, Regional Secretary at trade union UNI Europa, echoed this comments and said that decisions about Amazon workers' conditions "are not made in Luxembourg."
"They are made at the highest echelons of Amazon's management structure: the S-Team. We demand that Amazon make available S-Team members to be held accountable by the Committee," Roethig added.
Amazon said in a previous statement that it treats its responsibilities to the Parliament and other institutions “seriously”, and that it agrees “that a company such as ours—with over 150,000 employees in the EU alone—should be scrutinised.”
“We also believe that it’s important to scrutinise the whole industry in addition to individual companies, and to have sessions that are designed to understand facts, not just make political points,” the statement said.
Amazon and the European Parliament were contacted for a comment.
