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Ver.di says the first day of strike at Amazon has been a success. At noon on Monday, some 2000 employees stopped work at the four Amazon locations in Germany: Bad Hersfeld, Hesse, Leipzig, Saxony, Graben bei Augsburg, Bavaria and Rheinberg, North Rhine Westphalia.

“The workers are demanding their right to a collective agreement, decent working conditions and a living wage. They complain about unrealistic workloads, disregard for occupational health and safety regulations and the fact that Amazon unilaterally dictates wage levels,” said Stefanie Nutzenberger, member of the Ver.di National Executive Board and head of the Commerce Department.

The strike began during the night shift on Sunday in Bad Hersfeld. In the early hours of Monday morning, the early and late shifts in the other three locations joined the strike. The work stoppage is due to last until the end of the night shift on 23 September.

“We have never been a third wheel which Amazon claims has no business interfering in relations between the employers and the workers,” said Jürgen Bothner, Regional Director of Ver.di’s Hesse Branch.

Amazon operates a total of nine distribution centres in Germany, two of which are located in Bad Hersfeld. The company still refuses to allow collective bargaining and that is the reason why Amazon workers have often come out on strike since May 2013. In addition to the strikes, the workforce regularly organises other actions. Workers complain about the non-application of occupational health and safety standards, insufficient breaks and the high number of short-term contracts. Workers are demanding permanent contracts with good working conditions.

Reactions from Ver.di

“The pressure on workers is now reaching inhuman proportions. There are many cases where workers are being played off against one another and are kept under constant and unnecessary surveillance. The security that they could enjoy under a collective agreement is denied them. That is what we are fighting for”, said Thomas Gürlebeck, the Verdi strike organiser in Graben.

“The Amazon management sets pay unilaterally. For example, workers with fixed term contracts are paid 2 euros an hour less than their colleagues on permanent contracts. The system where employers dictate pay must be ended and replaced by a fair collective agreement,” explained Hubert Thiermeyer, the Ver.di representative in charge of commerce in Bavaria.

“The pay rises and other payments which the company have announced as a result of the strike are not secure in the long term and this is clearly an attempt to prevent the conclusion of a legally binding agreement,” added Silke Zimmer, head of the Ver.di commerce department in North Rhine Westphalia. “Things won’t calm down at Amazon until workers get statutory rights and a collective agreement.”

Mechthild Middeke from Ver.di in Hesse said, “Even if Amazon refuses to budge and won’t hear of a collective agreement, the strikes have paid off. Ever since the beginning of this labour dispute, with Ver.di’s help, workers have got more money in their pockets. {...} But even these wage increases have not succeeded in closing the gap between the bad pay at Amazon and the average pay level in the sector.”

At the end of the first day of the strike in Bad Hersfeld, Middeke added, “We have not had a strike for some time. But workers were immediately willing to follow the strike call. The fact that workers walked out at four locations was highly motivating for our colleagues. They feel that the support is growing. Today, we have workers who have joined the strike who did not participate in past actions. That also contributed to the good atmosphere.”

Management at Bad Hersfeld threatens striking workers

Middeke, criticised the threats issued by the Amazon management against three striking workers in Bad Hersfeld. “The workers concerned all have temporary contracts at Amazon. Because they came and joined us outside, they were told in no uncertain terms that they should not expect to get a permanent contract. Punishing a worker for joining a strike is a clear violation of a basic right. As a trade union that is something we cannot accept. We will be monitoring the situation very carefully and will defend the interests of the workers concerned.”

Since the end of August Mechthild Middeke and Heiner Reimann have been Ver.di representatives in the supervisory board of Amazon Bad Hersfeld.

Jürgen Bothner, Regional Director of Ver.di’s Hesse Branch, called on Amazon Bad Hersfeld to change their anti-union stance and to engage in collective bargaining talks. Bothner said, “Amazon’s obstructionist attitude towards Ver.di is becoming increasingly untenable. “We have never been a third wheel which Amazon claims has no business interfering in relations between the employers and the workers. In fact, since the establishment of a joint supervisory board in accordance with legal requirements, the company should have realised that Ver.di has a place at the negotiating table at Amazon and represents the interests of workers.”