Amazon Workers in Europe Go On Strike During 'Prime Day'

While Amazon celebrates its biggest promotion event Prime Day, where it offers exclusive deals for 36 hours, thousands of the company’s workers will be on strike. This includes Germany employees who are now joining the likes of the company’s workers in Spain and Poland. The strike demands labor contracts that guarantee healthy working conditions at Amazon’s fulfillment centers with Germany set to go on strike in the country’s six facilities.

Amazon only expects 12,000 workers in Germany to join the one-day strike and that it will not affect deliveries on Prime Day. However, workers in Poland are staging a work to rule demonstration while Spain will extend their strike for three days. Stefanie Nutzenberger of the Verdi services union has said: “the message is clear – while the online giant gets rich, it is saving money on the health of its workers.”

Permanent staff earns the equivalent of $14.31 USD an hour or more after two years, with Amazon stating it offers competitive pay and comprehensive benefits for their employees on the very first day. Germany is Amazon’s second largest national market after the United States, accounting for 9.5 percent of its 20 percent net sales last year where the company made $17 billion USD.

In related news, Amazon recently patented trackable wristbands for its warehouse employees.