Amazon said that there will be no delays for Amazon orders shipping from Germany today, as they company is hit with strike action. There are 2,000 workers at Amazon’s warehouse in Leipzig and another 3,300 workers at two warehouses in Bad Hersfeld which were impacted by strike action, although there are no figures as to how many actually walked off the job for the day and how many remained working.
Amazon have around 9,000 employees split across eight warehouses in Germany so potentially up to half their German workforce wasn’t working today.
The Ver.di union is seeking a collective bargaining agreement asking Amazon to pay their German employees according to terms agreed with other mail-order retailers. Amazon contend that their workers are logistics workers and well paid above the average compared with German industry norms for logistics.
“Collective agreements protect employers against arbitrariness and set minimum standards that we will defend together with the employees,” said Stefanie Nutzenberge, a Member of Verdi’s national executive.
Whilst a one day strike probably won’t disrupt the Amazon machine too much, extended strikes affecting more locations could start to hurt.
