Verdi, Germany’s largest trade union, called a four-day strike by workers at six Amazon distribution centers in the country from Monday evening in an attempt to force the company to accept a collective wage bargaining agreement ahead of the sales peak season of Easter. Verdi said the strike amounted to an “informal launch” of wage negotiations in Germany’s retail and mail-order industries. Collective wage negotiations are due to begin in the next few weeks.
DPA reported March 29th that Amazon’s distribution center in Leipzig was the first to strike on the evening of Saturday. About 400 of the center’s 1,200 employees walked off the job, strike director Thomas Schneider said. In order to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19, the strike adopted a “silent form” and did not hold collective street activities. Organizers also distributed promotional materials to employees who were not on strike. On that day, strikers placed banners and flags on the fence of Amazon Germany. In addition to Leipzig, several distribution centers in the German cities of Rheinberg, Wynne, Koblenz and Badherschfeld also went on strike at the same time.
Germany, is Amazon’s second-largest market after the US, and Verdi has been pushing for a collective wage agreement for eight years. Verdi representative Aukerman said Amazon, which is making so much money during the COVID-19 pandemic, should not shy away from negotiating higher wages for its employees. Verdi is asking Amazon and other German retail and mail-order companies to give their employees a 4.5 percent pay increase.
Amazon said on Monday that the number of strikers was “very low” and that the night shift was starting normally. According to Amazon, employees are paid between €11.30 and €12.70 an hour. After two years, the average wages that employees get could reach about €2,600 a month.
A week earlier, workers and deliverymen at Amazon’s distribution centers in Italy also organized a huge strike. This was the first major strike in Amazon’s Italian logistics system. The union asked Amazon and the trade group representing employers to sit down and negotiate with employees on issues such as work intensity, pay, job security and special compensation for outbreaks.
