Lufthansa strike threatens to help end decade of wage restraint in Germany Amazon, which has around 9,000 employees in Germany, is facing a strike over pay at a logistics centre in Leipzig, where workers are demanding a minimum wage of 10.66 euros an hour. The company says its workers in Germany are already paid at the upper end of current rates in the logistics business. Meanwhile, IG Metall is seeking 5.5pc increases for engineering and metal workers at companies including Volkswagen and Daimler. Pay rises which erode Germany's competitive edge are likely to be welcomed in other eurozone countries. In an interview last week, France's industry minister Arnaud Mountebourg said German wages should rise to reduce the country's competitive advantage and re-balance the euro zone. He told the Rheinische Post newspaper: "Germany has a giant export surplus over its trading partners and that is a fact. German industry has created for itself a competitive advantage by keeping a lid on pay rises. This situation, this imbalance, is not sustainable economically. It is indeed dangerous.