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 Labor union Verdi said that it expected at least 2,000 workers to
join the strike at five of Amazon's nine distribution centers in
Germany, and that the industrial action could be extended to other
centers. The walkouts are set to run until the end of Wednesday's
late shift.
Verdi said delays to deliveries could not be ruled out as a result
of the strikes.
Amazon itself said customers could order up until midnight on Dec.
21 to get gifts in time for Christmas, or even on Dec. 23 or 24 if
they pay for express delivery.
"We deliver reliably," an Amazon spokeswoman said, adding that only
a small minority of workers had joined the strikes, with around
19,000 employees working normally.
Last year, Amazon orders in Germany peaked on Dec. 15, when
customers bought 4.6 million items, or 53 per second.
Verdi has organized frequent strikes at Amazon since May 2013 as it
seeks to force Amazon to raise pay for workers at its distribution
centers in accordance with collective bargaining agreements across
Germany's mail order and retail industry.
Amazon has repeatedly rejected the union's demands, saying it
regards warehouse staff as logistics workers and says they receive
above-average pay by the standards of that industry.
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Amazon has previously said the long-running dispute has not affected
deliveries as the vast majority of workers in Germany have not
joined the strikes and it can draw on a European network of 28
warehouses in seven countries.
The U.S. company employs almost 10,000 warehouse staff in Germany,
its second-biggest market behind the United States, as well as more
than 10,000 seasonal workers.
(Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Mark Potter and Hugh
Lawson)
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