Black Friday: Amazon workers in 40 countries strike demanding higher wages and better working conditions
Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across about 40 countries are taking part in protests and walkouts on Black Friday, one of the busiest days of the year for online shopping, to demand better pay and working conditions. The campaign “Make Amazon Pay”, which is coordinated by an international coalition of trade unions, civil society and environmental groups, accuses amazon of squeezing workers, communities and the planet. The international strike day is "important" to unions because a global corporation like Amazon could not be countered "locally, regionally or nationally".
While some protests concentrate on Amazon's tax policy in Europe and its high CO2 emissions, the precarious situation of workers worldwide is the main focus of the campaign. According to the campaigners, real wages have been going down while the corporation records record revenue and the union-busting efforts have intensified.
It’s time for the tech giant to cease their awful, unsafe practices immediately, respect the law and negotiate with the workers who want to make their jobs better.Christy Hoffman, General Secretary for UNI Global Union
BREAKING NEWS: Workers and citizens in over 35 countries launch a global day of strikes and protests to #MakeAmazonPay.
— Progressive International (@ProgIntl) November 25, 2022
Send them your message of solidarity at https://t.co/C9LzATqqzA pic.twitter.com/JSBM8hY72b
💪🏻💪🏻🦺✊🏻 pic.twitter.com/BpNgYFPVaS
— hedi tounsi (@heditounsi6) November 24, 2022
Amazon replied to the allegations: “These groups represent a variety of interests, and while we are not perfect in any area, if you objectively look at what Amazon is doing on these important matters, you’ll see that we do take our role and our impact very seriously. We are inventing and investing significantly in all these areas, playing a significant role in addressing climate change with the climate pledge commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040, continuing to offer competitive wages and great benefits, and inventing new ways to keep our employees safe and healthy in our operations network, to name just a few.”