‘Make Amazon Pay’ Protests In 40 Countries, Threaten Black Friday Sales

New Delhi: Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across about 40 countries plan to take part in protests and walkouts to coincide with Black Friday sales, one of the busiest days of the year for online shopping.

Employees in the US, UK, India, Japan, Australia, South Africa and across Europe are demanding better wages and working conditions as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, in a campaign dubbed “Make Amazon Pay.”  The campaign is being coordinated by an international coalition of trade unions, with the support of environmental and civil society groups, Bloomberg reported.

“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, one of the campaign’s organisers was quoted as saying.

Tension with workers has been a long-running issue at the e-commerce giant, which has faced complaints of unfair labour practices as well as employee activism and union drives at some facilities. In what was seen as a watershed moment, workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted earlier this year to join an upstart union.

“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,” Amazon spokesman David Nieberg told Bloomberg.

He cited the company’s target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040 and that it’s “continuing to offer competitive wages and great benefits, and inventing new ways to keep our employees safe and healthy.”

Unions in France and Germany — CGT and Ver.di — are spearheading the latest collective action, with coordinated strikes in 18 major warehouses, intended to disrupt shipments across key European markets.