Unions in Italy have reached an agreement with Amazon covering workers rights leave, employee rights and video surveillance, the two parties have announced.

Transport unions Filt Cgil, Fit Cisl, and Uiltrasporti issued a joint statement Wednesday saying that all 57 sites operating in the country are covered by the deal made with Amazon Italia Transport and Amazon Italia Logistica, making it the first time globally that Amazon has entered into national collective bargaining agreements.

Key rights secured include the exclusion of video surveillance from disciplinary purposes, the right to take parental leave in increments as short as one hour and the implementation of the sector-specific bargaining provisions around serious illness, allowing up to 18 months of leave with full pay.

The agreement also allows for dispute resolution at local level, enhancing what the unions called second-level bargaining.

They added: “Thanks to the signing of the agreements and the start of discussions on the issues scheduled for September and October, both on additional regulatory and economic aspects, we have achieved an extraordinary result that represents a first natural evolution of the historic protocol on industrial relations, signed in 2021, strengthening the system of protections, rights, and participation for all Amazon workers in Italy.”

In a statement, Amazon said that: “We welcome the agreement reached with trade ⁠unions, which introduces new flexibility and work-life balance tools and enhances existing ones, bringing them into a shared ⁠framework for the benefit of our employees and their families.”

Amazon has historically argued against the need for unions in its workplaces. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has previously accused the online retail giant of consistent failures to engage in collective bargaining in countries including the United States.

The company is also facing an ongoing legal dispute in Italy, where prosecutors are attempting to bring its European unit as well as four of its managers to trial for tax evasion worth around €1.2 billion[IH2.1].

In a separate post on its website earlier in July, Amazon said it was among the top 25 taxpayers in Italy, suggesting that it should be given credit for the VAT its employees paid on goods through their daily lives.

The company said that it paid around €420 million in Italian taxes in 2024, but that its overall tax contribution exceeded €1.7 billion when taxes “collected and remitted on behalf of our customers, employees, and other third parties” in the country were taken into account. These include VAT and social security contributions paid by its employees, it said.

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