Amazon workers across 40 countries strike on Black Friday over conditions and pay 

Thousands of Amazon workers across the world staged strike action and held protests to coincide with the Black Friday sale (25th November) on Friday.

The “Make Amazon Pay” campaign saw the action take place in 40 countries, from India, Germany, and Bangladesh to Cambodia, Australia and the UK.

In the UK, a protest took place in London in which “workers and their activist allies [protested] Amazon’s exploitation of workers, communities, and our planet” and a rally took place in Coventry.

The campaign page reads: “Like all major corporations, Amazon’s success would be impossible without the public institutions that citizens built together over generations. But instead of giving back to the societies that helped it grow, the corporation starves them of tax revenue through its world-beating efforts at tax dodging.

“Amazon is not alone in these bad practices but it sits at the heart of a failed system that drives the inequality, climate breakdown and democratic decay that scar our age. The pandemic has exposed how Amazon places profits ahead of workers, society and our planet. Amazon takes too much and gives back too little. It is time to Make Amazon Pay.

“We are workers, activists, and citizens from across the globe joining together to Make Amazon Pay its workers fairly, for its impact on the environment and its taxes.”

The demands, all of which can be read here, include raising workers’ pay in all Amazon warehouses “in line with the increasing wealth of the corporation, including hazard pay and premium pay for peak times”; negotiating adequate break time to ensure safe work; suspending the “harsh productivity and surveillance regime Amazon has used to squeeze workers”; and extending paid sick leave to all Amazon workers, so that no worker has to choose between their health or their job.

Campaigners are also calling for an end to all forms of casual employment, for all workers fired for speaking up about issues concerning the health and safety of Amazon workers and customers to be reinstated immediately and ensuring workers’ rights are upheld globally. The campaign is also calling for Amazon to operate more sustainably, with demands such as that the corporation should commit to zero emissions by 2030.

A spokesperson for Amazon said: “These groups represent a variety of interests, and while we are not perfect in any area, if you objectively look at what Amazon is doing on these important matters, you’ll see that we do take our role and our impact very seriously.

“We are inventing and investing significantly in all these areas, playing a significant role in addressing climate change with the climate pledge commitment to be net zero carbon by 2040, continuing to offer competitive wages and great benefits, and inventing new ways to keep our employees safe and healthy in our operations network, to name just a few.”

Elsewhere, security guards and CCTV operatives at Harrods also staged a strike on Friday, marking the first day of 12 days of strike action, and Royal Mail workers also went on strike on Friday.