Workers at 4 Amazon warehouses in Germany go on strike over paySeptember 22, 2014 - 18:33 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Two thousand workers at four Amazon warehouses in Germany have gone on strike until Tuesday in a dispute over pay and working conditions, the union Ver.di said, according to BBC News. The dispute centers on how Amazon classifies its warehouse staff. Ver.di says warehouse staff should be classified as retail workers and paid a retail wage. Amazon classifies them as logistics workers and says that their wage is in the "upper end of the scale". Staff at Amazon's plants at Leipzig, Bad Hersfeld, Graben and Rheinberg will be on strike until Tuesday. Amazon said in a statement: "Ver.di is calling for wages on the basis of a retail tariff. But Amazon's fulfilment centers are not shops frequented by customers. "Staff in our fulfilment centers work within the logistics sector, not retail." Responding to Amazon's comments, a Ver.di spokesperson said: "The work at the fulfilment centre at Amazon is a classical part of the mail-order trade and therefore a classical part of the retail trade. "Amazon's discourse about logistics is only to try to camouflage that Amazon is not willing to accept any collective bargaining agreement at all. "Amazon wants to dictate unilaterally the working conditions, but the employees are not willing to accept that anymore." Ver.di say wages are not comparable to other warehouse staff in the country. Amazon employs more than 9,000 people in Germany. The German market is Amazon's second-biggest market behind the U.S. Hundreds of Amazon staff walked out during the Christmas period in 2013. Related links: Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Scholz hopes Armenia-Azerbaijan peace treaty will be signed this year German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hopes that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be signed this year. Ucom equips four bus stops in Ijevan with free Wi-Fi Ucom now provides free Wi-Fi coverage in smart bus stops in four communities of Ijevan. Armenians stage more campaigns against territorial concessions to Azerbaijan Protesters blocked more roads across Armenia on Friday, April 26 in continuing attempts to scuttle territorial concessions to Azerbaijan. Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. |