Amazon may not be having a great time ahead of Christmas in Germany, with workers from the company's three more facility centers joining in the ongoing strike. The strike will continue till Saturday, which is likely to affect the company's deliveries ahead and through the all-important Christmas.
This is not the first time that Amazon's deliveries have been hit in Germany, as worker unions have time and again staged strikes demanding higher pay and better working conditions. Christmas is not only an important shopping period for customers but also retailers, who bank on the holiday season for higher sales.
Strike may disrupt deliveries
The strike was called by trade union Verdi that started during the night shift between Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday, workers from three more Amazon facility centers joined the strike, affecting the company's deliveries significantly in Germany. The strike is being staged in demand for higher pay and better work conditions.
Verdi said in a statement on Tuesday that nearly 1,200 workers are now participating in the strike at Amazon's facility centers. The three affected warehouses are at Bad Hersfeld, Koblenz and Leipzig. Verdi's decision to call the strike at this time of the year is a strategic decision.
Workload at Amazon's facility centers increases ahead of Christmas and the all-important holiday season, owing to increase in the volume of deliveries. Understandably, the workers want to use this opportunity to negotiate with Amazon. Verdi on Tuesday said that working at Amazon becomes tougher during Christmas. "Employees pay the price for Amazon's fast delivery promise to its customers," the statement from Verdi read.
Amazon unmoved
The e-commerce giant doesn't seem to be much perturbed with the strike as it has claimed that the participation so far has been quite low and its operations haven't been affected owing to the ongoing strike by the workers.
This is not the first instance of a workers' strike at Amazon's facility centers in Germany. Unions have staged similar strikes earlier too, starting from 2013, expecting Amazon to negotiate with them on issues like higher pay and better conditions. Amazon presently employs 20,000 heads across 35 cities in Germany. Moreover, it adds temporary employees ahead of Christmas every year to tackle delivery pressure.
Amazon isn't the only company that has been hit by strikes by workers demanding rise in pay. A number of big names like South African Airways, Lufthansa, General Motors and Ford too have been hit by similar strikes lately.
