Amazon workers went on strike across Europe on Friday as protests against the company’s working practices gained momentum on one of the heaviest shopping days of the year, Reuters reported.
UNI Global Union, which launched the “Make Amazon Pay” campaign, announced strikes and protests would take place in more than 30 countries starting on Black Friday and going through Monday.
Black Friday is increasingly shifting online and going global, thanks in part to Amazon, which this year is advertising ten days of festive discounts from November 17 to 27.
In Germany, Amazon’s second-largest market by sales, about 250 workers went on strike last year at a warehouse in Leipzig and about 500 at an Amazon warehouse in Rheinberg, the Verdi union reported on Friday.
The union announced that a 24-hour strike at the country’s five order fulfilment centres began at midnight on Thursday to demand a collective agreement on wages.
An Amazon spokesperson in Germany claimed that workers were paid fair wages, with a starting salary of more than 14 euros ($15.27) per hour, and had fringe benefits. The spokesperson also asserted that delivery of Black Friday orders would be reliable and timely.
More than 200 workers went on strike Friday at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry, England, as part of a long-running dispute over wages. The striking workers chanted a demand for a pay rise to 15 pounds ($18.69) an hour.
An Amazon spokesman in the UK said the minimum starting wage is between 11.80 and 13 pounds per hour depending on location and will increase to 12.30-13 pounds per hour from April 2024.
Italian union CGIL has called for a strike on Black Friday at the Castel San Giovanni warehouse, while Spanish union CCOO has called on Amazon warehouse and delivery workers to strike for an hour on each shift on Cyber Monday, the last of Amazon’s ten days of sales.
Amazon’s parcel lockers, located in train stations, supermarket car parks and street corners and used by many shoppers to pick up orders, are also being targeted.
French anti-globalisation organisation Attac is urging activists to cover them with posters and ticker tape, potentially denying delivery workers and customers the opportunity to open them. Attac, which calls Black Friday “a celebration of overproduction and overconsumption,” stated that it expected the protest to be more widespread than last year, when it estimated 100 Amazon lockers across France were attacked.
Amazon remains popular in Europe, although its competitors, such as Shein and Temu, are actively gaining ground. According to data.ai, Amazon’s app had 146 million active users in Europe in October, compared with 64 million for Shein and 51 million for Temu.
