EU maintains pressure on UK over bill

The European Union is keeping up the pressure on the United Kingdom over its alleged breaches of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

The EU said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had failed to respond to Brussels' demand that he drop controversial legislation that would overwrite the agreement and break international law.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday: "We had invited our British friends to remove the problematic parts of their draft Internal Market Bill by the end of September.

"The deadline lapsed yesterday. The problematic provisions have not been removed."

Von der Leyen said the UK would have until the end of November to respond to the EU's concerns over the draft legislation. Trade talks between the UK and the EU have been taking place in Brussels this past week.

The EU's ultimatum comes as leaders of trade unions in Europe are calling on the commission to open an investigation into Amazon's "potentially illegal activities" against its workers after tech giant's effort to recruit spies to track "labor organizing threats" within the company came to light.

European trade union leaders representing more than 12 million workers signed a letter sent to the commission on Wednesday that demands Amazon's work practices across the continent be scrutinized.

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", according to reports by Forbes and others.

Vice, a news website, reported that the adverts listed several kinds of threats, such as "protests, geopolitical crises, conflicts impacting operations," but focused on "organized labor" in particular, mentioning it three times in one of the listings.

The reports claim that after the ads drew attention, Amazon deleted the job listings. Vice quoted a response from company spokesperson Maria Boschetti, who said in an email that "the job post was not an accurate description of the role－it was made in error and has since been corrected".

The unions' letter to the commission said: "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 labor, data and privacy laws that our citizens expect to enjoy."

Among the 37 signatories to the letter are the heads of Britain's USDAW union for shop workers, plus the GMB and the Communication Workers Union, as well as the German union ver.di, the French Democratic Confederation of Labour and Spain's biggest trade union, the CCOO.

The letter is addressed to Nicolas Schmit, the European commissioner for jobs and social rights, and Thierry Breton, the European commissioner for internal market.

The Guardian reported that the growth in online shopping during the pandemic had drawn attention to Amazon's anti-union stance globally as the EU prepares to roll out the Digital Services Act.

The directive will regulate multiple aspects of Amazon's core business and the digital economy in general. The commission will reveal its plans in December.