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Employees of the online retailer Amazon have stopped working at several locations.
In Bad Hersfeld, Hesse, employees left their work on Monday morning.
A spokeswoman for the Verdi union expected around 500 people to be involved.
In Rheinberg and Werne in North Rhine-Westphalia, the strike began shortly before midnight on Sunday evening, said a Verdi spokesman.
He reckons with around 500 participants in Rheinberg and 300 participants in Werne.
Verdi had called for strikes at various locations.
In total, Verdi spoke of 1700 strike participants.
The aim is the recognition of the collective agreements for the retail and mail order business as well as the conclusion of a collective agreement for good and healthy work.
The strike should last up to and including Christmas Eve.
Verdi: Amazon deserves a "golden nose"
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Amazon announced on Monday that its employees were already benefiting from "excellent wages, excellent additional benefits and excellent career opportunities".
Their health and well-being are the top priority.
The campaigns have no effect on customer deliveries, the vast majority of employees work normally.
Verdi Federal Executive Board member Stefanie Benefitberger has now said that the extensive closure of shops since last week due to the lockdown in the corona pandemic has led to a further significant increase in orders from mail order companies such as Amazon.
Amazon deserves "a golden nose" in the current crisis.
While the US company continues to increase its billions in profits, "it refuses to pay its employees a collective agreement," criticized the union.
Instead, the employees would be "exposed to even greater pressure because Amazon makes delivery promises despite the additional workload".
This is "inevitably at the expense of the health of the workforce, especially now under the conditions of the pandemic".