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The biggest shopping day in Amazon’s calendar (along with Prime Day) is under threat, as hundreds of workers down tools. Staff at Amazon’s main distribution hub in Italy are walking out for their first ever strike, while six warehouses in Germany are also striking.
Threatening to disrupt the busiest shopping day of the year, unions have said that more than 500 workers at the Piacenza site in Italy have agreed to strike after failing to negotiate bonuses with company bosses. Hundreds more members of staff are also set to strike in Germany over long-running pay and conditions disputes.
The strike will also see workers refusing to do any overtime until the end of the year, meaning Amazon will be left short-staffed during the busy Christmas period.
“The world’s biggest online retailer wants to achieve record sales on this day, but employees have to produce record performance not only on this day so that everything runs how Amazon wants it,” said German union Verdi board member Stefanie Nutzenberger.
Amazon in Italy said that it ‘remained focused’ on trying to guarantee scheduled deliveries for Black Friday customers. The company added that its workers were among the highest paid employees in the logistic sector and added that it already provides company benefits such as private medical insurance and training scheme funding.
