"Black Friday" for Amazon: Employees Across Europe Join Protests
On this global day of sales, "Black Friday," employees of the American giant Amazon have staged demonstrations across Europe. Workers are demanding wage increases and improved working conditions as part of the "Make Amazon Pay" campaign.
This information comes from Reuters.
It is expected that over 1,000 workers will participate in the protest at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry, England, with their primary demand being a pay raise. Activists are also organizing a demonstration at Amazon's UK headquarters in London.
The goal of the protesters is to disrupt warehouse operations and prevent goods from reaching customers' mailboxes. Storage lockers used by many Amazon customers, where they pick up their packages at railway stations, supermarket parking lots, and street corners, will also be targeted.
In France, for example, the anti-globalist organization Attack, which considers Black Friday a "celebration of excessive consumption," encourages its activists to wrap storage containers with tape, which could hinder delivery workers and prevent customers from opening them. Last year, the organization successfully blocked about a hundred such Amazon lockers throughout France.
Protests have also reached the second-largest Amazon market in Germany. Workers in five locations—Bad Hersfeld, Dortmund, Koblenz, Leipzig, and Rheinberg—have already begun their 24-hour strike, demanding a collective bargaining agreement on wages.
At the same time, Amazon's representation in Germany stated that employees receive fair pay, with a starting wage of 14 euros per hour, and additional benefits from the company.
Italian Amazon workers have also joined the European protests, calling for a strike on Black Friday at the Castel San Giovanni warehouse.
Black Friday is an annual event during which many retailers lower prices to stimulate sales. Today, it has expanded to online stores, becoming a global trend.
This year, the American giant Amazon announced ten days of holiday discounts from November 17 to 27.
Most of the protests, coordinated globally under the campaign "Make Amazon Pay," are led by UNI Global Union. It is expected that protests will take place in more than 30 countries.