German workers demand Amazon play fair

German workers are standing up to online retail giant Amazon, which refuses to allow them to organize and treats them horribly. A half-hour documentary that exposed those conditions in February sparked calls for protests and boycotts:

The half-hour investigative program explored tiny temporary accommodation, unreliable bus transportation to and from Amazon offices, temporary and unsecured contracts, as well as the last-minute outsourcing of work contracts to employment agencies - reportedly paying less than the wages advertised on the original job application.

It also displayed a heavy presence of security staff from a company called H.E.S.S (Hensel European Security Services), with the program questioning a possible allusion to Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. The security firm was contracted by an employment agency, not Amazon directly.

Employees are currently carrying out a series of strikes to force the company to raise wages and improve working and living conditions.

Amazon employs about 9,000 workers in Germany, but many are on short-term contracts. The corporate behemoth refuses to recognize its workers’ right to collectively bargain, a move that is not in line with other online retailers there. German retail union ver.di  says Amazon is importing  its anti-worker policies into the country.

Marcus Courtney, a technology and communications department head at Uni Global Union, a federation of trade unions, said the company’s stance is unacceptable:

In Germany, the idea that warehouse workers are going to be getting opposition from an employer when it comes to the right to organize, that’s virtually unheard-of.

Workers are calling on Amazon to classify its workers in Germany as retail employees and pay them at the negotiated rate included in collective agreements for retail and mail order companies. OTTO, Germany’s second-largest mail order company, already does so. If Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive officer, has enough money to buy The Washington Post (for which he is paying $250 million cash), then his company can pay a fair wage to its employees.

Send a message to Jeff Bezos to tell him it is time for Amazon to improve the treatment of its German workers. You can also post a message of solidarity for Amazon workers in Germany on the union’s Facebook page.  And to learn more about the movement, click here. The site is mostly in German, but you can still get a feel for the struggle.

Today's Teamster News 04.26.13

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Restraining order against Elmhurst Teamsters as the fight for their jobs continues

Informational picket at Elmhurst Dairy last week.

Forty-two Teamsters who were unjustly fired by Elmhurst Dairy are now deprived of their First Amendment rights.

A district court judge issued a temporary restraining order Monday preventing the Elmhurst 42 from picketing outside the plant:

Defendants, their officers, agents, representatives, members, employees and attorneys, and all persons in active concert or participation with them having notice from any source or in any manner of the entry of this order be and hereby are enjoined and restrained from calling, causing, inducing, encouraging, authorizing, conducting, continuing in or engaging in any strike, concerted work stoppage, concerted work slowdown, sit-down or refusal to work or any other act or coercion or interference with Plaintiff's normal operations.

Davinder Singh and his parents.

Local 584 members planned to rally Wednesday outside the gates of the dairy to protest the firing of the 42 workers. Teamsters from other New York locals intended to support them. Now the rally's off, as ordered by the judge.

The Elmhurst 42 were dismissed in blatant violation of the contract. They were replaced by low-wage, unskilled workers. So Julio Montes, who's been a loyal Elmhurst Dairy employee since 2004, now has no work. He supports five daughters and a wife on disability.

Davinder Singh worked at Elmhurst Dairy since 2003, but no longer:

I have worked at Elmhurst Dairy with pride. I would love waking up and going to work every morning. Elmhurst Dairy had been great to me over the years, until now. I have performed best of my ability at anything i did at the company. Currently I am in charge of my mortgage payment. I am the provider for my family and household. Currently I am supporting my elderly mother and father (whom neither of them work). I was in charge of all and every house bill.   

This is what solidarity looks like. Voting to support the brothers.

This extraordinary group is determined to win justice. They're diverse, from every walk of life, and they show total solidarity. A week ago Sunday, Local 584 members voted to donate an hour of pay each week to their fired brothers. And as Joint Council 16 President George Miranda said,

They have no idea what they have started but I can tell you we will finish this fight.

Workers already held an informational picket a week ago. No work was stopped.

Charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board to reinstate the 42 workers. And soon, Teamsters will leaflet grocery stores in Brooklyn and Queens asking patrons to boycott Golden Flow kosher milk from Elmhust Dairy.

Julio Montes.

Local 584 President Frank Wunderlich said they're willing to work with management:

We know that the dairy industry has faced tremendous economic hardship in the last few years and we want to work together with management to find resolutions that will protect our members and ensure the viability of the industry.

But until then, no justice, no peace.

Today's Teamster News 10.19.12

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