Amazon workers on strike in Italy and Germany

Amazon is having a terrible time in Europe on one of its most important days of the year. Workers at a half-dozen Amazon distribution centers in Germany and one in Italy walked off the job Friday to demand better wages from the American online giant in a protest timed to coincide with Black Friday.

The German union Verdi claims that Amazon "permanently endangers" workers by pressuring them to do more and more in a shorter time span, with constant performance monitoring, a "poor leadership culture" and short recovery times between working stints. In short: even if pay wasn't an issue, the risk of burnout would be.

"The world's biggest online retailer wants to achieve record sales on this day, but employees have to produce record performance not only on this day so that everything runs how Amazon wants it," Ver.di board member Stefanie Nutzenberger told Reuters.

Amazon has 9,000 employees in its German centers and hires an additional 14,000 temporary workers during the holidays.

Over 500 employees are carrying out their first ever strike at Amazon's warehouse in Piacenza near Milan over pay. Piazcenza is Amazon's main Italian hub, employing 4,000 people.

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