Workers at the world’s largest online retailer are on strike during one of the busiest holiday shopping weekends.
Amazon workers have begun protesting, with organized demonstrations in more than 20 countries starting on Black Friday, over “labor abuses, environmental degradation and threats to democracy,” according to UNI Global Union and Progressive International, a global union based in Switzerland.
The demonstrators are demanding higher wages, better working conditions and unionization of workers.
Called the “Make Amazon Pay days of resistance,” the strike will last from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, the union said. press release. Protests can be expected in major cities in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, India, Brazil and many others.
Protesters during a ‘Make Amazon Pay’ protest outside an Amazon Fresh store in Washington, DC on November 25, 2022.
Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The strike could mean holiday shipping delays for customers, economic experts said said ABC News.
Unions and allied groups from around the world plan to participate, according to UNI Global Union.
Thousands of workers in the German cities of Graben, Dortmund, Werne, Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Koblenz and Rheinberg planned to protest, and hundreds in New Delhi are demonstrating to demand fair treatment of workers in the heat wave. In July, the union said.
The Association for Taxation of Financial Transactions and Civic Action will hold protests in several cities in France, and garment workers will also take to the streets in Bangladesh, the union said.
Amazon workers line a GMB union picket line outside the online retailer’s site in Coventry, England, as they take part in a strike over pay on Black Friday, November 24, 2024.
Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images
This year marks the fifth annual Make Amazon Pay event, which aims to “hold Amazon accountable globally” in time for the busy holiday shopping weekend. In 2023, Amazon accounted for 18% of Black Friday sales worldwide, with more than $170 billion in holiday sales, according to one. earnings report it was released at the beginning of the year.
“Amazon’s relentless pursuit of profits harms workers, the environment and democracy,” said Christy Hoffman, general secretary of the UNI Global Union. “(Jeff) Bezos’ company has spent billions to stop workers from organizing, but strikes and protests around the world show that workers’ desire for justice — union representation — cannot be stopped. We are united. Let Amazon treat its workers fairly, their basic rights demanding that they respect them and stop undermining the systems that protect us all.”
Amazon defended its treatment of workers in a statement to ABC News on Thursday.
“This group is deliberately misleading and continues to promote a false narrative,” Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards said. “In fact, at Amazon we offer great pay, great benefits and great opportunities, all from day one. We’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs around the world and counting, and we offer a modern, secure and attractive workplace in an office or at our operations. -if you work in a building.”
The company announced earlier this year a $2.2 billion investment to increase the wages of fulfillment and transportation workers in the US. As a result, the average base salary for these workers is more than $22 an hour and the average compensation is more than $29 an hour. their chosen benefits are considered, depending on the company.
Comprehensive benefits for these employees starting on the first day of employment include health, vision and dental insurance; a 401(k) with a 50% company match; up to 20 weeks of paid leave, including 14 weeks of pregnancy-related disability leave and six weeks of parental leave; and Amazon’s Career Choice program, which prepays college tuition, according to Amazon.
An earlier statement from Amazon to ABC News said: “While we’re always listening and looking for ways to improve, we remain proud of the competitive wages, comprehensive benefits and engaging and safe work experiences we offer our teams.”
The exterior of an Amazon warehouse facility showroom in Houston, TX on April 4, 2021.
Brett_hondow/Getty Images
Amazon workers have been vocal about worker rights in recent years, especially as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic has increased the number of online orders. U.S. e-commerce sales grew $244.2 billion — or 43 percent — in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020, according to the Census Bureau. Annual Survey of Retail Trade.
In 2022, an independent worker-led group led the first U.S. union at the company, unionizing a 6,000-employee Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York.
Although subsequent attempts at facilities in Alabama and New York have failed, efforts have continued.
In June 2023, nearly 2,000 Amazon employees has organized the departure after giving the mandate to return to the office. In Kentucky, Amazon employees who spoke to ABC News complained that the company was leading the anti-union campaign to recommend organizing workers.
Amazon told ABC News last year that the company’s disciplinary action at an Amazon facility in Kentucky was in response to violations of company policy.
“Amazon squeezes everything it can get, but it changes its behavior depending on its jurisdiction,” James Schneider, director of communications for Progressive International, told ABC News this week. “Let’s say, in Sweden, the way it works with unions is a lot better. But in the US, it’s anti-union.”
Protesters hold up a ‘Make Amazon Pay’ banner during a demonstration in support of Amazon.com workers on the day of the company’s global strike on Black Friday, in Berlin, Germany, November 25, 2022.
Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A 2022 report The United Nations International Labor Organization found that post-pandemic inflation and cost-of-living increases are reducing the value of the minimum wage worldwide.
Rising inflation has opened the way for collective action, say the experts. (Starbucks was also a part 2022 union revival).
“Amazon is everywhere, but so are we. By joining our movements across borders, we can not only force Amazon to change its ways, but we can lay the foundations for a world that prioritizes human dignity, not Jeff Bezos’ bank balance,” said Varsha Gandikota. -Nellutla, general coordinator of Progressive International.
ABC News’ Max Zahn contributed to this report.
