Amazon Workers Protest Across Europe During Black Friday: Report

The report noted that the trade union Verdi in Germany estimated that about 2,000 workers went on strike across 6 Amazon fulfillment centers in the country.

Amazon employees in several locations across Europe walked out in protest against the company’s working practices on Friday on the occasion of one of the busiest shopping days of the year. 

The e-commerce giant’s workers walked out on strike on ‘Black Friday’, reported Reuters. The UNI Global Union coordinated a campaign, labelled ‘Make Amazon Pay’, and said these protests would take place in over 30 countries from Black Friday until Monday. 

Notably, Black Friday marks the day after the American Thanksgiving holiday and is known for the multiple discounts offered by many retailers to enhance sales. This shopping holiday has been made global by moving online, helped by Amazon, and this year has witnessed holiday discounts being advertised from November 17 to 27, 2023. 

The report noted that the trade union Verdi in Germany estimated that about 2,000 workers went on strike across six Amazon fulfillment centers in the country. Germany accounted for the e-commerce firm’s second-largest market by sales last year. 

The union stated that 500 workers went on strike at a warehouse in Rheinberg, contributing to about 40 per cent of the workforce, and nearly 250 workers went on protest at a warehouse in Leipzig, accounting for almost 20 per cent of the overall workforce. 

The report quoted an Amazon spokesperson in Germany who said that a small number of workers went on strike, and ‘workers are paid fair wages, with a starting salary of more than €14 ($15.27) an hour’. The spokesperson assured that Black Friday deliveries would be executed reliably and on time. 

More than 200 workers went on strike on Friday in the UK at Amazon’s warehouse in Coventry after a long-running dispute over pay. The agency quoted a worker at the warehouse, Nick Henderson, who said he was protesting for higher wages and improved working conditions. The striking workers called for an increase in pay to £15 or $18.69 an hour.

A spokesperson for Amazon UK said that the minimum starting wage ranges between £11.80 and £13 an hour on the basis of location, and would increase to £12.30 to £13 an hour from April 2024. Amazon noted that the strike wouldn’t cause any disturbance. 

The trade union, CGIL, in Italy, stated that over 60 per cent of workers at the Amazon warehouse in Castel San Giovanni went on strike, while the e-commerce giant noted that over 86 per cent of the firm’s workers there attended work and there was no impact to the company’s operations. 

The Spanish union, CCOO, asked the Amazon warehouse and delivery workers to come out on a one-hour strike on each shift on ‘Cyber Monday’ next week. In France, the report noted that Amazon’s parcel lockers located in train stations, street corners, etc, were plastered with barricade tape, the anti-globalisation organisation, Attac, said. The organisation was responsible for the protest and noted that 40 lockers across the nation were targeted. The organisation called Black Friday a ‘celebration of overproduction and overconsumption’. However, Amazon stated that all its lockers in France remained accessible.