Amazon workers strike in Germany over pay

Employees of the internet giant Amazon are taking strike action in Germany in a long-running pay dispute.
The Verdi union said workers would strike at Amazon's logistic centres in Bad Hersfeld and Leipzig and also in Graben. The action coincides with the busy Christmas shopping period.
Amazon employs more than 9,000 workers in Germany.
Later on Monday, a delegation of German workers will also protest at Amazon's headquarters in Seattle.
The union is planning further action on Tuesday in Germany in the town of Werne.
Verdi has called a series of strikes this year in an attempt to get the company to accept collective bargaining agreements for its staff.
It says Amazon is not paying them comparable rates to other warehouse staff in Germany, because the company has classified the staff as logistics workers, whose rates of pay are lower.
Amazon says that they are well paid compared with other logistics workers in the country.
The union is also unhappy with what it calls the company's practice of "constant monitoring" of workers and what it says are impossible workplace targets.
Last month, an investigation by the BBC's Panorama programme into a UK-based Amazon warehouse found conditions a stress expert said could cause "mental and physical illness".
Prof Michael Marmot was shown secret filming of night shifts involving up to 11 miles of walking at the warehouse - where an undercover worker was expected to collect orders every 33 seconds.
Amazon told the BBC in a statement that worker safety was its "number one priority".