German Union Threatens Holiday Strike at Amazon Warehouses

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The union seeking collective bargaining agreements at two of Amazon's German warehouses is threatening to strike during the holiday season, Reuters reported.

A representative of the union, Ver.di, told Der Spiegel yesterday, "If I were Amazon, I would not rely on being able to make all deliveries to customers on time before Christmas." Workers at the warehouses in Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld have staged several partial strikes this year.

Amazon has said that it regards the workers at the warehouses as "logistics workers," who receive "above-average pay" for that field. An Amazon Germany spokeswoman said that previous strikes had not affected deliveries. Local newspapers reported recently that Amazon is considering opening warehouses in neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic because those countries have lower pay scales than Germany.

The union maintains that the workers' pay should be measured by standards for mail order and retail workers. During the summer, one union official called the ongoing dispute "a clash of cultures."