Several hundred German employees of the American giant of online commerce Amazon began a strike on Monday to demand better working conditions in the face of the coronavirus health crisis. "We call on the employees of six centers of the online trading company [...] Monday and Tuesday to go on strike," the German services union Verdi said in a statement.
"We are increasing the pressure because Amazon has so far shown no openness and endangers the health of employees," added the union. The organization is asking the American giant to adopt an agreement aimed at "ensuring better protection of the health and safety of workers" in the face of the coronavirus crisis.
Between 400 and 450 demonstrators
Verdi also calls on Amazon to recognize regional collective agreements for retail and mail order, which it has always refused to do. According to local union representatives, between 400 and 450 people participated in the strike on Monday morning in a logistics center in western Germany, in Rheinberg.
Walkouts were also planned in several other cities, including Werne, Leipzig, Bad Hersfeld and Koblenz, until Tuesday. The Verdi union has been fighting for years to get better working conditions in Amazon logistics centers across the country, which are regularly criticized.
The health crisis, caused by the coronavirus pandemic, has amplified the protest movement while the working conditions of group employees are regularly questioned. According to the union, a recent coronavirus outbreak in a logistics center, that of Bad Hersfeld, led to the infection of "30 to 40 people".
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