German workers Amazon on strike again

Employees see Amazon as distance seller

Yesterday about 200 employees of
Amazon.de, the largest online shop in Germany, have once again laid down their
tools after the union ver.di called for a strike. At the moment Amazon sees its
staff as logistics personnel, but they see themselves as staff at a company that
sells from a distance. Under those regulations the employees of Amazon.de would
get better pay, more holiday money and better allowances for overtime.

It is the second strike in two weeks at Amazon
in Germany, though severely less successful than the first time. Yet it still remains
restless at the German part of Amazon, since the German television showed a report that workers in of Amazon in Germany had to work
at low wages and in bad conditions.

It is not clear what the effects of the strike
are for the customers. Amazon.de is the nearest branch of the online retailer
for a number of European countries without their own Amazon and it is fairly
popular because of low shipping costs – which are often free.