Amazon is adding a new distribution center equipped with advanced robotic technology in the Bolton region that will employ 1,200 new people. In Germany, meanwhile, Amazon reportedly suffered delivery problems after strikes crippled six of its German logistics centers in early October. Verdi, a German trade union based in Berlin, has been demanding for years that Amazon pay award rates to its individual and mail-order employees. After recent negotiations, this would mean an immediate increase of 2.3 percent and a further increase in 2018 of 2 percent. Amazon continues to pay employees wages it says are typical for the logistics branch. In September, it increased the hourly rate by 25 percent, but Verdi says this is not enough. According to the union, Amazon pays long-term employees €2,080 a month. Under the collective bargaining agreement for the retail and mail-order business, a warehouse worker earns €2,233. The strike affected the logistics centers in Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Graben, Rheinberg, Werne and Koblenz. A representative for the union said employees will continue to use strike actions to force the company to negotiate.

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