In an effort to pressure the retailer to adopt the union’s sectoral collective bargaining agreement, the German union Verdi has called on employees at seven Amazon distribution centres to go on strike during the night shift on Sunday.
‘Our active colleagues, who have been fighting for years for a collective pay agreement with Amazon, deserve our respect for the courage they keep showing in this confrontation with the employer’, said Verdi official Stefanie Nutzenberger.
The strike is intended to take place on ‘Prime Day’ Amazon’s annual sale day, when huge sales volumes are anticipated.
Although Amazon has consistently raised salaries over the past few years, according to the union, one of Germany’s largest, the impact on employees has been muted by longer working hours and little to no remuneration for working on public holidays.
‘There are no extended working hours. That’s nonsense’, said an Amazon spokesperson, adding that ‘our critics demand what we’ve already done: Last year we increased wages across the country to 12 euros gross upwards per hour and this autumn we’re increasing them again to at least 12.50 euros’.
Verdi said that it had announced the strike at the distribution centres in Augsburg, Leipzig, Koblenz, Rheinberg, Werne, and two locations in Bad Hersfeld. Its members who work for Amazon have frequently gone on strike in the past over salary and working conditions.
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