Amazon workers in Germany stage strike

Published May 14, 2013

Associated Press

BERLIN –  A union representing workers at Amazon in Germany says members are striking in a push for higher wages from the online retailer.

The ver.di union said Tuesday it is urging Amazon to adopt wage agreements similar to those governing retail and mail-order workers. The union says those agreements include Christmas bonuses and extra pay for working nights, Sundays and holidays and could mean as much as 9,000 euros ($11,700) more annually for Amazon workers.

Amazon says its distribution warehouses in Germany are logistical centers, and employees are already paid on the upper end of what workers in the logistical industry earn.

Ver.di represents some 3,300 employees at Amazon's Bad Hersfeld center and another 2,000 in Leipzig and says both sites will take part in the one-day warning strike.

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Gunmen kill 5 workers loading sand near Acapulco

Published April 25, 2013

Associated Press

ACAPULCO, Mexico –  Authorities in Mexico say gunmen killed five men who were loading sand onto a truck at a riverbank near the resort city of Acapulco, while a shootout in an adjacent state killed one federal police officer and four alleged attackers.

Guerrero state prosecutors say the workers slain Thursday at La Sabana River were between 20 and 25 years of age.

Drug traffickers have extorted companies that transport construction materials as well as other transportation businesses in Acapulco. Authorities say they are investigating whether that was a motive for the killings.

Officials in neighboring Michoacan state say the federal police officer and four gunmen died Wednesday in a clash in the town of Yurecuaro.

State police said Thursday that investigators recovered more than 1,000 spent cartridges at the scene.

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Fast food workers in New York protest demanding higher wages

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  April 4, 2013: Demonstrators holds a sign and chant slogans outside of a Wendy's fast food restaurant in New York. New York City fast food workers plan a second job action day to press for higher wages.AP

NEW YORK –  Hundreds of fast food workers and supporters protested outside New York City restaurants Thursday to demand higher wages for their low-paying jobs, including about 60 who chanted "Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Minimum wage has got to go!" at a midtown Wendy's.

Linda Archer said she has worked at a nearby McDonald's for three years and makes $8 an hour. The protesters want fast food restaurants to pay $15 per hour, almost double the current statewide average pay of $8.25 per hour. New York City has among the world's most expensive rents.

"I'm asking for respect, I'm asking for $15, I'm asking for a union, I'm asking for job security," she said. McDonald's said in a statement that it values and respects all the employees who work at its restaurants.

New York's minimum wage is $7.25, but the state Legislature last month voted to raise it to $9 by 2016.

The day of picket lines organized by a coalition of unions and community groups followed a similar job action last November. Organizers said they expected hundreds of workers to demonstrate Thursday at dozens of fast food establishments, including McDonald's, Domino's, Wendy's and Pizza Hut.

Fast food workers deserve union representation, said Richard Trumka, national president of the AFL-CIO, who stopped by the Wendy's protest.

"They're being mistreated, they're being underpaid, they're going to stand together until they get fair treatment and we're going to stand with them," Trumka said.

Shahnaz Perveen ate her lunch inside Wendy's while protesters marched outside but said she supported the workers' demands. "They work really hard," she said.

Thursday's action also commemorated the assassination 45 years ago of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, where he was supporting a strike by sanitation workers.

Several pickets wore signs that said "I am a man" or "I am a woman," echoing placards carried in Memphis in 1968.

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