![]() ![]() ![]() But Amazon has rejected trade union demands for better salaries and dismissed proposals to strike a collective agreement on wages and work conditions.Covid-19, lockdown and physical distancing incentivized individuals around the globe to "click to purchase". The company posted record profits of €3.2 billion in the first quarter of 2019 alone. Around 50 strikes were organised in Europe, some timed and coordinated across several countries in a show of cross-border solidarity. GMB, the union for Amazon workers in the UK, claims some of their members "have to use plastic bottles to urinate in instead of going to the toilet" and that "pregnant women have been forced to stand for hours on end".Īccusations that are “simply not true”, the company has said in response.Īcross the Atlantic, employees in Minnesota also tried to block trucks from coming in and out of distribution centres on Monday while waving signs reading, “We’re humans, not robots ,” according to CNN.Īmazon has been facing growing outrage over its labour practices since 2018. Outside of continental Europe, protests were also planned at seven Amazon sites across the UK. In a statement on Monday, the company insisted it is fair to employees in Germany, adding that the wages it pays are "at the upper end of what is paid in comparable jobs". Germany is Amazon's second-largest market after the US. In seven distribution centres across Germany, the retail giant’s staff went on strike under the motto, “No more discounts on our incomes.” In Germany, "well over 2,000 took part, which is more than we expected”, Verdi labour union spokesman Orhan Akman told AFP. Workers also staged strikes across Europe and the US on Monday. Indeed, the company said in advance that the “Prime Day” strikes all over the world would not affect deliveries to customers.Īmazon’s management techniques are far from being exclusive to France, according to union representatives. “Strikes at Amazon’s centres have minimal impact, because when there is a social movement somewhere, the company is able to redirect orders elsewhere and simply bypass the strikers,” Bouchajra said. And this is the only one in France to do so.” “Only 0.3 percent o f 2 ,500 workers in this centre were on strike. “If we make a single mistake, our hierarchy automatically sends us letters and calls meetings that could lead to dismissals,” he told FRANCE 24.Īmazon insist s that there are no restriction s on employees’ paid leave and has tried to minimi se the strikes in Lauwin-Planque, according to local newspaper la Voix du Nord. There are more and more colleagues who get sick and Amazon’s been sending people over to their homes to check if they really are sick and to minimise their illness,” Bouchajra said.Ībsenteeism is a growing problem, he adds, putting even more pressure on the shoulders of other workers. “We’re under constant pressure and surveillance. ![]() “They have brutal techniques: You either accept them or you’re fired,” CFDT union representative for the Hauts-de-France northern region, Avisen Mahadoo, told FRANCE 24. ![]() According to them, Amazon forbade workers from taking paid vacations during the three weeks around Prime Day. Union leaders also criticised temporary bans on paid leave that have been put in place. ‘Under constant pressure and surveillance ’ “The work pressure is the same as for Christmas, but throughout the year, which is explosive,” added Bouchajra, who is an employee at Amazon’s Saran centre in central France. Although workers and unions are reacting to the retailer’s sales operation this week, they have been raising concerns over Amazon’s management for years. “We’re demanding better wages but most of all, we want better working conditions as well as recognition,” a CGT union representative, Khaled Bouchajra, told FRANCE 24. The move caused minor traffic jams in the area. As Amazon launched its annual two-day global shopping offer known as Prime Day, employees of the Seattle-based online retail giant went on strike in Germany, the US and France.Īround 20 workers tried to block trucks coming to and from the online retailer’s distribution centre in the northern French city of Lauwin-Planque on Monday, disrupting deliveries while demanding better wages and working conditions. ![]()
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