Paris (AFP)

The American logistics giant Amazon announced Monday that it was extending the suspension of the activity of its distribution centers in France until May 5, after a court decision requiring it to assess the risks linked to the epidemic. from Covid-19.

"Amazon employees will be asked to stay home until May 5 inclusive - they will receive their full wages," the group said in a statement. Amazon's distribution centers have been closed since April 16.

The Versailles Court of Appeal ruled on April 24 that the unions demanded a real assessment of the risks associated with the new coronavirus, confirming a decision by the Nanterre court ten days earlier.

The Court of Appeal clarified and widened the list of products that Amazon can continue to deliver pending this assessment and set a penalty of 100,000 euros per offense.

The giant of online business must, according to her, stick to high-tech products, IT, office and "Everything for animals", health and body care, man, nutrition, drugstore, as well as the grocery store. , drinks and maintenance.

"A tiny rate of accidental treatment of unauthorized products, of the order of 0.1%, could result in a penalty of more than a billion euros per week", deplores Amazon in its press release, taking up the arguments used to justify the first closure of its distribution centers until Tuesday.

"This means that we anticipate temporarily suspending the activity of our French distribution centers until May 5, and this while we continue to assess the best way to operate in light of the decision of the court of appeal" , he adds.

Customers "can still order millions of products from independent companies that sell on Amazon and through our global logistics network," he said.

The company, whose warehouses had been running full since the implementation of containment on March 17, had been the subject of six notices from the labor inspectorate and all of its French sites were inspected. It focuses attention by its key role in online commerce (36% market share in France) and its management of employees often considered "dehumanized".

"Our distribution centers in France and around the world are safe," maintains Amazon.

The court decision "reinforces our idea that the main issue is not so much security, as the will of certain trade union organizations to take advantage of a complex consultation process with social and economic committees", argues the group, which says it "involved social and economic committees" in order to agree on security measures on the sites.

© 2020 AFP