Amazon workers in Italy were on strike on Tuesday as unions accused the online retailer of failing to protect its staff against the threat of the novel coronavirus.
The strike started late Monday at a warehouse in Castel San Giovanni, in the northern Piacenza province. The area is one of the worst affected by the outbreak.
In a joint statement, the Cisl, Cgil, Uil and Ugl unions accused Amazon of failing to implement additional worker protection measures with the Italian government agreed on Saturday with unions.
These include the right to be given masks and other protective gear if workers cannot be kept apart by a safe distance, and extra sanitary measures in the workplace.
“In the Piacenza hub, workers asked for masks 10 days ago and to date none have been handed out,’’ Cristian Sesena of the Filcams Cgil union told dpa.
The strike will continue indefinitely, he said. One-day strike had taken place in two other Amazon warehouses in the regions of Piedmont and Lazio, he added.
For its part, Amazon said it was following rigorously guidelines from the government and health authorities, and assured that the welfare of our workers, suppliers and customers comes first.
For example, the company said it is no longer asking its staff to pick up a signature from customers after delivering packages, to avoid any close contact.
Italy is the worst-affected country in the world outside China, where the coronavirus outbreak originated.
On Monday, it reported a cumulative total 27,980 cases and 2,158 deaths. (dpa/NAN)
