Hundreds of Amazon employees from across Germany staged protests on Friday against what trade union representative say are unfair working conditions and the company’s lack of a collective wage agreement.
Demonstrators marched from two directions to a central rally in a hall in Bad Hersfeld in the state of Hesse. Amazon has two logistics centres in the town.
They carried banners and signs with slogans like “Even if [Amazon boss] Jeff Bezos doesn’t like it, we want the collective agreement.”
It’s about “good and healthy work,” employees having input and a legally secure collective agreement, Silke Zimmer of the service sector trade union verdi told the rally.
According to verdi and the global umbrella organization of the service sector, Uni Gobal, 60 different actions were planned in more than 30 countries on Black Friday.
Delegations from the US, the UK, Sweden and Italy also took part in the rally in Bad Hersfeld.
Verdi said that around 550 protesters took part in the central rally in Bad Hersfeld. A spokeswoman said that around 2,000 Amazon employees across Germany took part in protest actions.
For more than 10 years, verdi has been unsuccessfully demanding that the US company recognize German collective bargaining agreements for the retail and mail order sector and conclude a collective agreement.
Amazon operates 23 large logistics centres in Germany and argues that it offers its employees fair wages with additional benefits.
According to verdi, Amazon employees report enormous pressure to perform, and an ever-increasing workload and workplace surveillance which they say creates a climate of fear, especially in the logistics centres.
Verdi called the strike and rally in Bad Hersfeld the central action of the international #MakeAmazonPayDay campaign.
