Amazon- a new heavyweight in the retail federation. “The decision has been taken and the contracts will be ratified in the next few days,” confirmed at the end of January Josef Sanktjohanser, president of the HDE (Handelverband Deutschland) in reference to the retail giant, Amazon’s affiliation with the German Retail Federation. Germany is the US company’s largest foreign market. The company confirmed the news stating “With digital transitioning ongoing, we increasingly have more in common with the HDE,” explained the head of Amazon Germany, Ralf Kleber, in an interview with the daily publication Die Welt, and in which he strived to reassure and guarantee that Amazon was first and foremost focused on a competitive and growing retail industry.
Germany: Amazon Deutschland affiliates with the HDE, the German Retail Federation, but without applying sector collective agreements
The German Retail Federation, Handelverband Deutschland – HDE, together with the US online retailing giant Amazon have confirmed that in February 2020 Amazon entered the HDE umbrella federation. However the company opted for membership without application of sector collective agreements (OT status). Services union Verdi, which has been battling Amazon for five years, has protested the decision, recalling that Amazon has always refused to apply retail sector salary agreements, preferring instead to apply the more financially advantageous (for the company) logistics sector agreements. The Confederation of German Trade Unions has warned it will not tolerate for long the ‘Americanization’ of Germany’s social partnership.
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