IMG_4538 copyAmazon.com warehouse workers in Germany protested again today in yet another act of opposition against what they say are unfair wages.

Reuters reports that between 340-to-500 employees participated in the strike this morning, marking the first protest of 2014 but one of many that have taken place over the past several months.

The actions are being organized by the German labor union Ver.di, who also put on a demonstration at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters just before Christmas last year. They argue that there is a wage inequality issue at Amazon’s fulfillment centers in Germany, which is Amazon’s second-biggest market behind the U.S.

Ver.di contends that Amazon refuses to hold formal negotiations with its union, which wants to address the “company’s practice of constant monitoring of workers,” and “unreasonable metrics that workers find impossible to meet,” in addition to unfair pay.

Last December, Amazon noted that a “vast majority of our workers in Germany are not participating in these strike activities,” and said it pays more in total compensation than the a logistics tariff standard that governs warehouse workers in Germany.

Update, 2:35 p.m. PT: Amazon sent us this statement regarding the protests in Germany today:

Today, the trade union ver.di organized a strike at our fulfillment center in Leipzig, one of our nine German centers. Less than 340 of our FC associates chose to not come to work today. The majority of employees regularly worked and remained focused on delivering the best customer experience. Amazon did not see any impact on customer shipments.

Amazons fulfillment centers are logistics companies that fulfill customer orders.  Our employees earn toward the upper end of the pay scale compared to other logistics companies. The entry wage for an Amazon employees in Germany is 9.55 euros an hour, plus bonus, insurance and pension pay. After one year employees earn more than ten euros, and after two years, employees get shares in the company. Therefore we see no benefit in a tariff agreement for customers or associates.

In all of our logistics centers, we have employee representation – either as works councils or as employee committees with whom we work closely together to make sure employees interests are considered.

Please find more information about the Amazon logistics network in Germany on www.amazon.de/fcpractices.

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