Employees of Amazon went on strike at various sites across Europe on Friday, expressing their opposition to the working conditions enforced by the U.S. e-commerce giant. This protest occurred on one of the most hectic shopping days of the year.
The “Make Amazon Pay” campaign, organized by the UNI Global Union, announced that strikes and protests are scheduled in over 30 countries, spanning from Black Friday—the day following the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, known for widespread discounts to drive sales—until Monday.
Initially recognized for the large gatherings at U.S. big-box stores, Black Friday has progressively shifted to the online sphere and gained a global presence. This trend is fueled, in part, by Amazon, which has promoted holiday discounts from November 17 to November 27 this year.
In Germany, which stood as Amazon’s second-largest market in terms of sales last year, the Verdi trade union approximated that approximately 2,000 employees went on strike across six Amazon fulfillment centers.
The report indicated that 500 employees at a Rheinberg warehouse, constituting almost 40% of the workforce, had gone on strike. Additionally, around 250 workers at a Leipzig warehouse, accounting for approximately 20% of the workforce, had also joined the strike.
A spokesperson for Amazon in Germany asserted that only a limited number of workers were participating in the strike. The spokesperson emphasized that employees receive fair wages, starting at over 14 euros ($15.27) per hour. Furthermore, they assured that Black Friday orders would be delivered punctually and reliably.
In England, over 200 workers participated in a strike on Friday at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse, marking an ongoing dispute regarding pay.
Nick Henderson, an employee at the warehouse functioning as a logistics hub for Amazon’s product processing and distribution to other facilities, expressed that his participation in the strike was motivated by the pursuit of higher pay and improved working conditions.
The protesters vocally advocated for their request for a wage increase to £15 ($18.69) per hour.
An Amazon UK spokesperson mentioned that the minimum pay is between £11.80 and £13 per hour, depending on the location, and will increase to £12.30 to £13 per hour from April 2024. Amazon assured that the strike would not cause disruption.
In Italy, the CGIL trade union reported that over 60% of employees at the Amazon warehouse in Castel San Giovanni were participating in the strike. In contrast, Amazon asserted that over 86% of its workforce at that location had reported to work, emphasizing that there had been no disruption to operations.
The Spanish union CCOO urged Amazon warehouse and delivery workers to conduct a one-hour strike during each shift on the upcoming “Cyber Monday.”
In France, Amazon’s parcel lockers, situated in train stations, supermarket car parks, and street corners and widely utilized by customers for order pickups, were adorned with posters and barricade tape, as reported by the anti-globalization organization Attac, the orchestrator of the protest.
Attac, characterizing Black Friday as a “celebration of overproduction and overconsumption,” disclosed that 40 lockers were singled out across the country. Amazon countered, affirming that all its lockers in France remained accessible.
Despite the swift expansion of competitors such as Shein and Temu, Amazon has sustained its popularity in Europe. Data from data.ai reveals that in October, Amazon’s app boasted 146 million active users in Europe, surpassing Shein with 64 million users and Temu with 51 million users.