Black Friday: Amazon is the target of strikes and acts in Europe – 11/24/2023 – Market

Amazon workers went on strike in several locations across Europe this Friday (24), as protests against the US e-commerce giant’s working practices took shape on Black Friday, one of the busiest retail days of the year. .

The “Make Amazon Pay” campaign, coordinated by UNI Global Union, said strikes and protests were taking place in more than 30 countries from Black Friday until Monday (27).

In Germany, Amazon’s second-largest market by sales last year, the Verdi union said around 250 workers were on strike at an Amazon warehouse in Leipzig on Friday, around 20% of the unit’s workforce, and 500 crossed their arms at a distribution center in Rheinberg – almost 40% of the workers.

The union said a 24-hour strike at five distribution centers across the country had begun at midnight on Thursday to demand a collective wage agreement.

An Amazon spokesperson in Germany said only a small number of workers were on strike and that employees were paid fairly, with a starting salary of more than €14 an hour. The spokesperson said deliveries of Black Friday orders will be on time.

In Coventry, England, more than 200 workers were on strike this Friday at an Amazon warehouse as part of a long-running pay dispute.

Nick Henderson, a worker at the Coventry distribution center, which acts as a logistics hub for Amazon to process products to send to other warehouses, said he was on strike for higher pay and better working conditions.

In Italy, there were conflicting reports about participation in the strike. The CGIL union reported that more than 60% of workers at the Amazon warehouse in Castel San Giovanni went on strike this Friday, but the company stated that more than 86% of workers showed up for work and that there was no impact on operations.

The Spanish union CCOO called on Amazon workers to strike for an hour each shift on “Cyber ​​Monday”, the last day of the company’s ten days of sales during the period.

In France, Amazon’s parcel lockers — located in train stations, supermarket parking lots and street corners, and used by many customers to receive packages — were also the target of protests.

Lockers in Paris and other cities in France were covered with posters and tape, according to the anti-globalization organization Attac, which planned the protest.

Attac, which calls Black Friday a “celebration of overproduction and overconsumption”, said it expects the protest to be wider than last year, when it estimated 100 Amazon lockers across France were targeted.