Amazon lobbyists will be barred from the European parliament as part of an escalating dispute over transparency and working conditions.
The European Parliament said on Tuesday the access badges that give the ecommerce giant’s lobbyists permission to be on its premises will be withdrawn.
It comes as a group of MEPs called for the move, saying Amazon had repeatedly failed to engage with it about its approach to workers’ rights and labour conditions, The Financial Times reported.
Amazon said in a statement: “We are very disappointed with this decision, as we want to engage constructively with policymakers.
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“As a company that has been active in the EU for more than 25 years and now has more than 150,000 permanent employees here, we take our engagement with policymakers in Brussels and across Europe extremely seriously.”
European lawmakers have increasingly turned to Big Tech companies to help shape regulation on fast-developing technologies.
However, Amazon has long been scrutinised about the ways it treats its workers, from issues including the group’s approach to unionisation to pay and conditions at its warehouse.
MEPs on the employment and social affairs committee wrote to the parliament president Roberta Metsola to ask for Amazon to be stripped of its lobbying badges after the online giant declined to participate in a January hearing about its warehouse working conditions.
“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 labour laws,” a letter from the committee seen by The FT said.
The ecommerce giant has been facing industrial action at its Coventry warehouse in a year-long dispute over pay, with the strike action extending to one of its Birmingham distribution centres earlier this year.
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