Bad for Bezos: Amazon's German workers threaten pre-Christmas strike

Verdi union wants more gingerbread for its elves

Mega etailer Amazon may run into problems over Christmas in Germany, as services union Verdi threatens to strike when it will hurt the company most.

"I would not rely on Amazon's site to be able to meet all customer promises before Christmas," Verdi's secretary Heiner Reimann told Der Spiegel. (Google Translate version here).

Amazon has faced repeated strikes at its distribution warehouses in Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld as the union tries to force the firm to negotiate a new collective pay agreement that covers all employees.

Verdi also wants higher basic pay and bigger bonuses for night shift work for Amazon's 9,000 staff spread across Germany.

The online bazaar has said that it sees no advantage for customers or workers in collective bargaining and argues that its current wages are above the industry average. ®