Amazon staff in Germany stage strike over pay

German workers at the online retailer Amazon staged a one-day walkout yesterday as a dispute with unions over pay and benefits escalated.

The German union Verdi called for a strike at two of the online retailer's warehouses in an attempt to put pressure on Amazon to raise basic pay and introduce bigger supplements for night work.

Amazon has some 9,000 employees in Germany and has repeatedly come under fire from Verdi for refusing to implement a collective agreement on employment conditions, similar to other mail-order and retail firms.