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Amazon: German warehouse workers strike for better pay

Amazon employees in Germany walked out yesterday as part of their campaign for decent pay.

Staff at the US firm’s Leipzig, Bad Hersfeld, Graben and Rheinberg logistics centres will strike until tomorrow evening, the United Services Union (Ver.di) said.

Ver.di has been pushing for a wage rise for Amazon staff for over a year, saying that the online retail giant refuses to recognise workers’ right to collective agreements on pay as guaranteed by German law.

It wants staff reclassified as “retail workers” which would mean the company was legally obliged to pay them higher salaries in line with those across the country’s retail and mail sectors.

Amazon terms its employees “logistics workers” and says they are paid well for that industry.

In a bid to appease striking staff it has pledged to issue Christmas bonuses this year, but Ver.di says this does not make up for low wages.

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