The Amazon Prime Day bargain hunt has already begun. But Ver.di has something against it.
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Ver.di wants to spoil Amazon Prime Day
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It came as reliably as the next Covid 19 wave: the Ver.di union called for a strike on Amazon Prime Day. With such strikes on the popular bargain hunter days such as Prime Day or Black Friday, Ver.di is finally trying to persuade Amazon to adopt the collective bargaining agreements for retail and mail order for its employees.
Specifically, the United Services Union Ver.di called on Amazon employees at seven distribution centers to go on strike with the start of the night shift from Sunday to Monday (July 11, 2022): in Graben near Augsburg, Leipzig, Koblenz, Rheinberg, Werne and Bad Hersfeld (two Locations). There will also be promotions at other Amazon locations.
The reason for the walkout is the “Prime Day” organized by Amazon. Ver.di is demanding that Amazon recognize the collective bargaining agreements for retailers and mail order companies and conclude a “good and healthy work” collective bargaining agreement.
According to Ver.di, Amazon has repeatedly increased hourly wages in recent years and anticipated the increase in the minimum wage to 12 euros per hour. In fact, however, the incomes of the employees are often several hundred euros below those of their colleagues in comparable collective bargaining companies due to longer working hours and low or no special payments such as Christmas and holiday bonuses, as Ver.di criticizes.
Almost like Dinner for One: The same procedure…
This dispute between Ver.di and Amazon always follows the same pattern: Amazon runs a shopping event and Ver.di calls for a strike shortly beforehand: Prime Day: Ver.di strikes Amazon shipping centers. Sometimes Ver.di also starts a strike at Christmas. Ver.di always lists the problems and disadvantages for the employees at Amazon as justification for the strike action, and Amazon contradicts this.
But the problem for Ver.di is that the strikes never really hurt Amazon and to this day have not been able to force the online shipping giant to the negotiating table. It is doubtful whether this will change with the current strike action.
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