Amazon employees on six continents have announced that they will strike or protest between Black Friday and Cyber Monday (29 Nov to 2 Dec).
The action is expected to attract thousands of people during one of most busy shopping seasons of the year, as they demand more worker’s rights and climate action.
Workers and union representatives, including those from the UK, US and Germany, Brazil, Japan, and Brazil, will be taking part in “Make Amazon pay” days of resistance, led by UNI Global Union.
During the fifth anniversary of the campaign, the campaigners will demand that the company be held responsible for what UNI Global Union calls labour abuses as well as threats against democracy and environmental degradation.
Christy Hoffman, its general secretary, said that Amazon’s relentless pursuit for profit is at the expense of workers and democracy. Bezos’s company has spent millions of dollars to prevent workers from organizing, but strikes and protests around the globe show that workers’ need for justice, for union representation, cannot be stopped.
“We demand that Amazon respect the fundamental rights of its employees, stop undermining systems designed to protect us, and treat them fairly.” “Make Amazon Pay Day” is becoming a worldwide act of resistance to Amazon’s abuse.
Tax justice UK activists are expected to hold protests outside the UK headquarters of the company in London, on Friday. They will deliver a petition to the company with more than 110,000 signatures. They will then march to Downing Street to call on chancellor Rachel Reeves not to give Amazon tax breaks and other large businesses.
The retailer’s UK main arm had to pay corporation tax last year for the first since 2020. This was due to the termination of the “super deduction” tax break, implemented by the former prime minister Rishi Sunderak.
Amanda Gearing is a senior organizer for the GMB. She said, “This Black Friday Amazon workers around the world are building up a movement for a change. Amazon is a symbol of everything wrong with our economy in the UK. GMB will not allow insecure work, low wages, and unsafe working conditions to shape the future of work.
Workers at Amazon’s Coventry Warehouse voted in July to reject GMB’s bid for trade union recognition. The 2,600 workers who voted supported union recognition by 49.5%, just missing the required majority.
