News / Amazon staff in 20 countries set for 'Black Friday/Cyber Monday' strikes

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Strikes at Amazon facilities across six continents are set to cause chaos over the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend.

Amazon staff in more than 20 countries, including in major cities across Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, Turkey, the UK and US, are seeking improved pay, better working conditions and rights to unionise.

Christy Hoffman, general secretary of the UNI Global Union, said: “Amazon’s relentless pursuit of profit comes at a cost to workers, the environment and democracy,” and called out Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for having “spent untold millions to stop workers from organising”.

Ms Hoffman added: “The strikes and protests happening around the world show workers’ desire for justice can’t be stopped. We stand united in demanding Amazon treat its workers fairly, respect fundamental rights and stop undermining the systems meant to protect us all.”

Comprising 80 trade unions and workers’ rights groups, Switzerland-based UNI is coordinating the strikes under a “Make Amazon Pay Day” banner, now in its fifth year and becoming what Ms Hoffman calls “a global act of resistance against Amazon’s abuse of power”.

Action will include protests outside Amazon’s UK HQ in London, together with activists delivering a petition, containing more than 110,000 signatories and demanding an end to tax breaks for big corporations, to the UK chancellor.

Senior GMB organiser Amanda Gearing said: “Here in the UK, Amazon represents everything that is broken about our economy. Insecure work, poverty wages and often unsafe working conditions. GMB will not let these shape the world of work for the next decade.”

In New Delhi, protests will focus on claims of Amazon’s mistreatment of workers during a heatwave last July. Garment workers are set to take to the streets in Bangladesh, while the UNI said France would see protests across “multiple” cities.

Speaking to NBC, Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said: “While we’re always listening and looking at ways to improve, we remain proud of the competitive pay, comprehensive benefits and engaging, safe work experience we provide our teams.”

Despite having kept momentum around the scheme going for five years, precisely how much impact “Make Amazon Pay Day” has had on sales is difficult to gauge, but the company has certainly been made the poster-child of post-pandemic anger at increasing prices.

Furthermore, Forbes reported earlier this year that Amazon had experienced a decline, if not in sales, then in its customer base, with a reported drop of 3.7% in daily active users, equating to some 2.7m between September 2022 and January 2024.

In Canada and Germany, however, the timing of this latest action comes amid a difficult time for their small package delivery sectors, with Canada Post now in its second week of strikes, having lost out on a reported 10m possible parcel deliveries.

Some 55,000 workers walked out from the national mail operator on 15 November, largely in response to the rise in the number of gig workers and private delivery companies that is said to have put the long-term future of Canada Post in peril.

Having recorded roughly C$3bn in losses since 2018, CP is keen to expand its use of gig workers to “leave it better positioned to compete with the surging number of private delivery companies” around the ecommerce sector.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers claims CP’s financial woes are down to poor investment choices that left it unable to service key customers, including Amazon.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the United Services Union (Verdi) has announced a week of action in response to concerns over a lack of clarity in a weight limit directive within the Postal Act, which came into force in July.

“The regulations are that parcels from 20kg should generally be delivered by two people, unless there are suitable technical aids. But what exactly these technical aids are has not been made clear,” said Verdi.