Portside

Amazon and the trade unions representing its employees in Italy reached a “historic” agreement, signed at the Castel San Giovanni, which was the hub of last year’s Black Friday strike. Seventy percent of workers approved in a referendum.

After several short strikes and on-going organizing, workers at Amazon in Italy signed a contract that improves conditions and pay. This is the first time in Europe that Amazon has been forced by worker pressure to sign a union contract.

Skeptics worry about traffic, crowded trains, scarce housing. Economists question whether tax breaks yield promised jobs

Bracelet, which can vibrate to point an employee’s hand in the right direction, would further increase surveillance of work environment

Amazon has become a symbol of the new economy in Italy and the unions are determined to make these new workplaces, union fortresses. While Italian labor law has many advantages compared to our own, patient worker based organizing remains the fundamental building block of organizing.