Amazon Germany hit by strike actions

With barely a week to go before Christmas, German union Verdi has organised a strike in two of Amazon‘s logistics centres. Verdi hopes to coerce the American e-tailer into providing better working conditions.

No Christmas presents?

Employees stopped all activities in distribution centres in Leipzig en Werne. The Leipzig strike might even continue up until Christmas Day, writes Reuters. Verdi has been pleading for higher wages in line with conditions in the rest of Germany’s retail and mail order industries for a while now. Amazon responds by saying its people are not working in retail but in logistics, and so they want to continue to use the wage scales in the latter sector.

Union spokesman Thomas Schneider, who calls the e-tailer’s refusal to negotiate “a provocation”, says the strike action might expand to other locations as well. “We have repeatedly given Amazon more time to react to our demand. We will see whether their promises to customers to delivery parcels punctually by Christmas Eve can be met.” An expanded strike would be a big blow for Amazon, for whom Germany is the most important market outside of the United States.