Two Amazon Locations in Germany Face Strikes Ahead of Christmas

Steven Arons, Bloomberg News

Sealed boxes move along a conveyor into a truck dock ahead of shipping from an Amazon.com Inc. fulfilment center during the online retailer's Prime Day sales promotion day in Koblenz, Germany, on Monday, July 15, 2019. Amazon is tapping high-profile actors, athletes and social-media sensations like never before to maintain buzz around its Prime Day summer sale, now in its fifth year and battling increasing competition from rivals. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Two of Amazon Inc.’s logistics centers in Germany face pre-Christmas strikes after the labor union Verdi called for higher pay and a recognition of collective wage agreements.

The union urged staff at the company’s locations in Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld to stop working during the next work week to “disrupt” Amazon’s Christmas sales, it said in press releases on Sunday.

The calls from Verdi follow similar actions targeted at Amazon last year. The U.S. retail company said at the time that the strikes wouldn’t impact deliveries over the holiday period.

Verdi has been trying to persuade Amazon to sign a collective wage agreement for several years. Around 2,000 people worked at the Leipzig site last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Steven Arons in Frankfurt at sarons@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, James Amott