Amazon France...is to remain closed for two more days - until Wednesday April 22 - pending an appeal to a court order to limit its activities nationwide...a court in Nanterre...ordered it to deliver only “essential” items - such as food, health or medical products. This represents barely 10% of its usual deliveries.

The court found that Amazon was continuing to operate “as if nothing was amiss” during the Covid-19 crisis, and had failed to put in place reassurances and safety measures for its warehouse staff...the company closed its warehouses to evaluate the situation in its warehouses and see if further security measures could be put in place. It had planned to re-open today (Monday April 20). But now the company has announced that its warehouses will remain closed for an extra two days, in the hope that it will obtain a reversal of the court order on Tuesday (April 21).

In a statement given to the Agence France-Presse, Amazon said: “We remain perplexed at the decision of the court in Nanterre that was handed down last week, and we await with interest to see that our appeal is heard. We will temporarily maintain the suspension of activity of our French distribution centres.” The Amazon France warehouses employ around 10,000 workers, who have been asked to stay at home during the closure, on full 100% pay. Amazon has not requested government assistance - using the partial unemployment (chômage partiel) scheme - during the stoppage...