16 July 2018

...Nearly 1,800 Amazon workers in Spain went on strike...during Prime Day, the company’s biggest sales day of the year, according to labor activists. Thousands more Amazon employees in Germany are expected to walk off the job...the second day of the 36-hour sale, for similar reasons. The unions that represent the warehouse workers, Comisiones Obreras and Verdi services union, say they are calling for better working conditions, pay and health benefits...

This week’s labor protests underscore a growing challenge for Amazon: It is facing increased scrutiny over its hiring and labor practices at a time when it is looking to add thousands of new warehouse workers and growing at breakneck speed.

Amazon and its billionaire founder, Jeffrey P. Bezos, have a long history of thwarting unionization efforts in the United States...

But in Europe, where unionization is more widespread, labor unions have been on the front lines of calling for workers' rights at the company’s warehouse facilities, where physical demands can be grueling and temperatures can reach extremes...

...A spokeswoman for the Seattle-based giant said it was committed to providing workers with “positive working conditions.”...