Amazon and the Special Negotiating Commission of the European Works Council (SNB) have reached an agreement to set up a European works council within the multinational e-commerce company. The pact comes after four years of negotiations and will provide the employees of the American company in the EU and the United Kingdom with greater representation and negotiating tools before the central management of the company in Europe. Among other issues, it will give them access to transnational information or risk prevention, an issue that is of particular concern to unions, explained Douglas K. Harper Mendiluce, vice president of the Special Negotiating Commission of the company’s European Works Council.
The agreement has been signed unanimously by each of the negotiating parties and entered into force on July 1. Spanish Amazon workers will be able to designate three representatives on the committee, in addition to three alternates, so “the necessary dialogue” will begin to complete the appointments. The multinational has about 180 work centers in Spain, of which only 10% have a works council.
The Amazon works council will focus on the Operations business lines, which currently include Order Fulfillment, Customer Service, Transportation Services, Logistics, and Specialized Global Shipping. Each country covered by the agreement in which Amazon employs at least 1,000 workers will have a worker representative on the European works council. No country may have more than six representatives, and the number of committee members may not exceed 35. Amazon employs more than 237,000 people in Europe, more than 20,000 in Spain.
The agreement signed between the American multinational and the workers in Europe contrasts with that of the United States. There, Amazon and the employees of several centers are in conflict over the constitution of works councils.
