Poor Amazon. It’s unhappy that it can’t do what it wants with its workers in Europe.
There are a couple of nuggets in this Wall Street Journal story:
Over the past month, hundreds of workers at two of Amazon’s eight German distribution center locations have gone on strike four times, demanding higher pay and other benefits, including paid vacation and extra overtime pay, common perks in many German wage agreements.
On Monday and Tuesday, about 1,300 Amazon employees walked off the job, in the longest strike so far, according to Ver.di, the large German service-sector union that is representing the workers.
Amazon, which has refused to negotiate with the union, says that its German wage policies are fair and that the strikes, the first in its 15-year history here, have so far had little impact on its business. The online retailer, which employs about 9,000 people in Germany, generated $8.7 billion of its $61 billion in global revenue last year in the country, making it Amazon’s second largest market after the U.S.
The dispute reflects the inherent tension between Amazon’s aggressive pricing strategy and the realities of doing business in much of Europe, where a combination of union influence and strong labor protections give companies far less flexibility than they enjoy in the U.S. [emphasis added]
So, you refuse to negotiate and, then, you complain? That has to be emblazoned in the pantheon of “free market” garbage.
And, then, don’t you love the part about “less flexibility”. If you were to actually turn that phrase into real English, it would say: Amazon is whining because it can’t impoverish workers and treat them like shit like the company is allowed to do in the good ‘ole U.S.A.
