“German
Wild West”
Amazon
Germany announced it would let go of 600 people in its Brieselang distribution
centre, who all had to leave the building immediately – much to the anger of the labour unions. “Amazon is showing its true face
once again. After its employees were under tremendous pressure to get
through all the orders for the immensely busy Christmas period, Amazon has told
its employees to leave, two days before Christmas”, Ver.di said.
“The American internet company
refused to give a wage increase and now it is attempting to install a Wild West
atmosphere in Germany.”
Strikes elsewhere in Germany
It
is not the first sign of issues at Amazon Germany, as labour unions have been fighting for months to get better working conditions, but the board is
unwilling to budge. Some 650 employees went on strike on Monday, in the Bad
Hersfeld and Leipzig distribution centres.
Amazon
Germany has 9,000 FTE’s and 14,000 temporary employees and it is the second
most important Amazon branch, behind the United States. It generates a yearly
turnover of 8.7 billion dollars (some 6.35 billion euro), with nearly 21 % growth
year-on-year.
The
American giant is clearly playing hardball, with the announcement of large
investments in Poland, worth several million euro. The move, announced several
months ago, was officially to support Eastern European growth, but analysts and
labour unions feel it is a ploy to pressurize German labour unions.
(Translated by Gary Peeters)
