German unions lay down for three days. They protest against the excessive workload at times when Amazon runs promotions.
The strike’s timing just falls on Prime Day, a day when Amazon gives discounts to members, making it noticeably busier in the webshop giant’s delivery centres. That is why the trade union organization Verdi is planning a three-day strike.
“The workers in the delivery centres have to deal with an influx of customers and not get a cent more for that extra workload,” union representative Orhan Akman said in a statement to Reuters.
Verdi has been organizing regular strikes at Amazon since 2013. The union is demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Amazon itself says that it pays excellently and that ninety percent of its employees just work. Earlier this month, the company still guaranteed a minimum wage of 12 euros per hour, which will be increased to 12.5 euros per hour within a year and a half.
Amazon is not only under fire for working conditions in Germany. In the US, too, appalling working conditions regularly come to light.
In the US, for example, the company has been trying to prevent unionization for years, and the workload is so high that employees regularly relieve themselves in bottles or mail bags to save time. Amazon also denied those practices, but leaked emails confirm that the company is aware of the situation.
