The United Services Union (Verdi) has called on workers in six shipping centers of the US online retailer Amazon to go on strike.
From the early shift on Monday, employees should stop working up to and including Tuesday, the union said on Monday night.
The Rheinberg, Werne, Koblenz, Bad Hersfeld (two locations) and Leipzig locations are affected.
Verdi demands that Amazon employees get a collective agreement and be paid according to the tariff for retail and mail order.
Verdi has chosen symbolic dates for the strikes: Monday is Equal Pay Day and Tuesday is International Women's Day.
“Amazon likes to present itself as a company that upholds diversity and equality.
In fact, however, the computer algorithm determines what and how much the employees have to do - there is no provision for taking into account the personality, performance or living conditions of the colleagues," criticized the Verdi strike leader in Bad Hersfeld, Mechthild Middeke .
“The result is a rush to work and pressure to perform.
This makes you ill and particularly affects those employees who are exposed to other stresses in addition to their work at Amazon.
These are particularly often women, for example single mothers," affirmed Middeke.