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Amazon Germany workers strike again in months long pay dispute

Amazon Germany workers strike again in months-long pay dispute

By Reuters | Updated: 1 April 2014 16:50 IST

Hundreds of workers at online retailer Amazon in Germany went on strike on Monday, the first stoppage this year in a pay dispute that has dragged on for months.

A spokesman for the Verdi labour union had said that about 500 of around 1,200 workers at Amazon's distribution centre in Leipzig were expected to strike.

(Also see: Amazon workers strike in Germany, protesting wages)

An Amazon spokeswoman said fewer than 340 workers took part and deliveries had not been delayed.

Amazon employs a total of 9,000 warehouse staff at nine distribution centres in Germany - its second-biggest market behind the United States - plus 14,000 seasonal workers.

Three of Amazon's German logistic centres were hit by stoppages in the run-up to Christmas, though the company said that deliveries were not affected.

(Also see: Amazon German workers strike again ahead of pre-Christmas sales peak)

Verdi wants Amazon to raise pay for workers at its German distribution centres in accordance with collective bargaining agreements for the mail order and retail industry.

Amazon, however, has rejected the demand, arguing that it regards warehouse staff as logistics workers and says they receive above-average pay by the standards of that industry.

Back in January, workers at Amazon.com's German operations said they plan to continue industrial action next year. "We will continue to strike, also next year," Verdi representative Joerg Lauenroth-Mago said. "But I won't say when and where exactly that will happen."

Hundreds of workers at Amazon's logistic centres in Bad Hersfeld and Leipzig had been on strike since earlier in December, threatening to disrupt shipments in the Christmas shopping season. Some staff at the company's Graben site had also stopped work.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

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