Hundreds of workers have laid off work on six Amazon sites in Germany. The action would last until Christmas Eve. In the meantime, the e-commerce company continues to guarantee the delivery of parcels.
Accepting collective agreements
The strikes broke out at the sites of Werne, Leipzig, Rheinberg, Koblenz and Bad Hersfeld (2), reports Frankfurter Allgemeine. According to trade union Verdi, some 1,700 employees of the e-commerce giant are involved. The actions will continue until Christmas Eve.
The trade union wants Amazon to endorse the collective labour agreement for the German retail sector. It is a demand that Verdi has been trying to enforce for years, but Jeff Bezos’ company has never responded to it. Because of the lockdown in Germany, it is considerably busier than usual at Amazon.
“While the company continues to increase its profits by billions, it refuses to pay its workers according to the collective agreement”, said Stefanie Benefitberger of Verdi. In addition, according to her, the workload is higher than normal because Amazon continues to make promises of delivery despite everything.
“No impact on deliveries”
Amazon has already stated that the strikes would not affect deliveries to customers, since “the vast majority of employees work normally”. The company also states that it supports tens of thousands of SMEs in Germany by enabling them to sell their products online.
Strikes like these are more common in Germany. In the run-up to Black Friday, Verdi also called for a halt to work.
