Amazon Workers Strike in Germany, Spain, and Poland

Thousands of workers in Amazon’s German warehouses are planning a strike on Tuesday, during the major promotional day ‘Prime Day’, joining their colleagues from Spain and Poland who have been striking since Monday.

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The Verdi union representing service workers organized a one-day strike to support their demands for contracts that would guarantee healthy working conditions in the world’s largest e-commerce warehouses.

“The message is clear – while the online giant profits, it saves money on the health of its workers,” said Stefanie Nutzenberger, the leading retail sector official at Verdi.

The one-day strike at six facilities in Germany coincides with Amazon’s promotional day ‘Prime Day’, while workers in Spain are in a three-day strike. In Poland, they opted for a partial protest, performing only the most basic tasks, Verdi officials said.

Amazon stated that they expect only a portion of their 12,000 workers in Germany to join the strike and that it will not affect deliveries on ‘Prime Day’.

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They also emphasized that Amazon’s central warehouses offer competitive pay and comprehensive benefits from the first day of employment. Permanent employees earn €12.22 per hour or more after two years.

“We believe that jobs in Amazon’s warehouse centers are excellent jobs that provide a great place to learn skills for starting and further developing a career,” the company told Reuters.

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Germany is Amazon’s second-largest market after the U.S. Net sales increased by 20 percent last year to $17 billion, accounting for 9.5 percent of total sales, according to the company’s annual report.