Amazon's German Workers Walk Out, And Amazon Couldn't Care Less

Advertisement

Jeff Bezos Amazon CEO Portrait Illustration

Mike Nudelman/Business Insider

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Workers in Amazon's third-largest market are failing to get the attention of their bosses despite hosting a number of walkouts over the last few months. According to Reuters, hundreds of German Amazon employees went on strike on Monday in an effort to raise their wages.

Advertisement

The Ver.di labor union has been disputing salaries since before Christmas, when Amazon finally put a temporary stop to the strike with a Christmas bonus. However, that did not end things for Ver.di and its workers. Germany does not have a minimum wage, but it does dictate pay-scales by industry. According to The Daily Dot Amazon is claiming that its warehouse staff falls under the category of logistics workers, meaning that their $13 an hour pay was completely fair if not above-average. Ver.di, on the other hand, claims that the employees should be considered mail workers and be given a higher salary.

The disputes between Ver.di and Amazon go as far as how many employees are actually on strike. Ver.di claims that 500 of 1,200 workers in the Leipzig distribution center are on strike, while Amazon is sure that fewer than 340 are on strike.

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Amazon is not even batting an eye at the walkouts, confident that it will not impact the company in the slightest. With 9,000 workers in nine distribution centers plus 14,000 seasonal workers, the hundreds of workers with Ver.di are still the small minority. To make matters even more complicated, some Amazon employees are even staging anti-union demonstrations to show solidarity with their bosses.

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

Advertisement