Amazon workers in Germany this week went on strike to put pressure on the company in the lead up to Christmas after a nearly two-year labor dispute.
The strike began Monday and is expected to last until Christmas Eve. The Vereinte Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft (Ver.di) union has launched numerous strikes and protests against the massive online retailer since the Spring of 2013. The union is demanding better working conditions, wages and a collective bargaining labor agreement. It hopes the strike will put pressure on the company with Christmas coming up. Amazon operates across the globe and many of its costumers use the website for their Christmas shopping.
“Amazon refuses a collective contract and wants to pay their workers individually,” a union representative told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “That means different wages from worker to worker, from job to job, from place to place, different holidays, changing working conditions and wages without any guarantee.”
Nevertheless, the union is optimistic that its efforts are working. It notes wages have been raised a little bit in the facilities workers have gone on strike at. The problem is, without a contract or labor agreement in place, there is nothing stopping Amazon from cutting wages again.
“Wages will be cut again later,” the representative added. “And, of course, we are striking this week to put more pressure on the company.”
Amazon, however, argues the strike will not disrupt normal operations. Anette Nachbar, senior public relations manager for Germany, noted the 1,700 striking workers are not a significant enough percentage of the total workforce to cause any problems. Amazon has about 10,000 regular employees at its nine German warehouses.
“We prepare for a number of situations including industrial actions, high volume and weather,” Nachbar told TheDCNF. “There were only a couple warehouses that participated in the industrial action.”
The company also hired an additional 10,000 seasonal workers to help with the holiday surge. If the strike was bigger, Nachbar notes, it still would be unlikely to impact operations. Beyond Germany, the company has a massive network of other facilities throughout the rest of Europe and the world that could step in and help if something were to go wrong.
“We do have in Europe 29 fulfillment centers,” Nachbar added. “We will make sure Christmas is not disrupted.”
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