Amazon employees in Germany go on a strike for better wages

Amazon employees went on strike at seven locations in Germany demanding better wages. Recently, the US online retail giant launched its two-day global shopping discount extravaganza called Prime Day. One of the employees who working on the Prime Day was quoted in media saying, “Amazon offers these discounts to customers at the expense of its own employees' salaries and by fleeing collective bargaining.”

In their German centers, Amazon says wages are at the upper end of what is paid in comparable jobs and points out that "more than 8,000 employees" have been with the company in Germany for "more than five years".

The strike action coincided with Amazon's announcement on Monday that it would create another 1,000 jobs in Poland as it opens a new logistics depot in the country's southwest near the German and Czech borders.

The company said it would offer new employees in Poland "a competitive salary of 20 zloty (S$7.90) per hour gross".

In Germany, Amazon employees start with a minimum wage of 10.78 euros per hour before tax, according to management figures, and after 24 months' employment, they draw an average monthly salary reaching 2,397 euros before deductions.

The company has faced several rounds of walkouts by workers seeking better conditions. Earlier, in 2018, around 50 strikes were organized in Europe and, in a rare show of cross-border solidarity, some were coordinated to hit simultaneously in several countries.