Amazon Workers in Germany Go on Strike

Pay dispute

(Reuters)—Hundreds of workers at Amazon.com Inc's German operations went on strike on Monday, just as pre-Christmas sales were set to peak, in a dispute over pay that has been raging for months.

Germany is Amazon's second-biggest market behind the United States and sales there grew almost 21 percent in 2012 to $8.7 billion, a third of its overseas total. Amazon took its most daily orders in Germany last December 16, with shipments peaking on December 17.

Amazon, which employs 9,000 warehouse staff in Germany plus 14,000 seasonal workers at nine distribution centers, said only 640 workers had failed to turn up for the early shift so there had been no delays to deliveries so far.