Six locations affected: Amazon employees are on strike until Christmas

Monday, December 21, 2020

Six locations affected
Amazon employees are on strike until Christmas

The tariff conflict at Amazon has persisted since 2013. This year, too, the Verdi union is increasing the pressure on online retailers and is calling on hundreds of employees to go out of work. The US group does not see product shipping before Christmas in danger.

The Verdi union has called on employees of the online retailer Amazon to go on strikes lasting several days. Employees at six locations went out of work from the night up to and including December 24th. According to Verdi, the aim is to recognize the collective agreements for retail and mail order businesses and to conclude a collective agreement for good and healthy work. The locations of Werne, Rheinberg (both North Rhine-Westphalia), Leipzig (Saxony), Koblenz (Rhineland-Palatinate) and two locations in Bad Hersfeld in Hesse are to be striked.

Verdi expects around 1700 strike participants. "The closure of the stationary retail trade in the past week has significantly increased the volume of orders from mail order companies like Amazon. While the group continues to increase its billion-dollar profits, it refuses to pay employees according to the collective agreement. These are minimum conditions," said Federal Board member Stefanie Benefitberger.

The tariff dispute at Amazon has been going on since 2013. Verdi calls for collective bargaining regulations for the employees in the German Amazon shipping centers, as are customary in retail and mail order. Amazon, however, uses agreements in the logistics industry as a benchmark in which less is paid.

At Amazon, it has always been said of similar work stoppages in the past, customers would not feel anything. Parcels arrive on time, the majority of the employees take care of customer orders as usual. Amazon offers an environment "in which one likes to work, can contribute and be successful," emphasized the US group. In the current lockdown, Amazon is supporting tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses in Germany by enabling them to sell their products online.