- Protests by Amazon workers and allies were planned in more than 30 countries for Black Friday.
- Campaign concerns include competitive wages, safe working conditions and carbon emissions.
- The Make Amazon Pay campaign comes as Amazon faces unionization efforts around the world.
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Black Friday kicks off the holiday shopping season. It’s already off to a rough start for Amazon.
Today, Amazon workers and activists are protesting to secure better working conditions around the world. The campaign is led by Make Amazon Pay, a coalition of 70 unions and organizations including Greenpeace, Oxfam and Amazon Workers International.
“The pandemic has exposed how Amazon is putting profits before workers, society and our planet,” Make Amazon Pay wrote in a list of demands shared on its website. “Amazon takes too much and gives too little back. It’s time to make Amazon pay.”
Protests were planned in more than 30 countries, including India, Germany and Japan, according to Make Amazon Pay. In the US, protests are expected in more than 10 cities from coast to coast at Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle, Jeff Bezos’ penthouse in New York, Whole Foods stores and Amazon warehouses.
Strikes are planned at 18 warehouses in France and Germany, which were coordinated by unions, and several in the U.S., such as STL8, Amazon’s warehouse in St. Peters, Missouri.
Gig Workers Association (GigWA) along with Amazon Warehouse workers and Hawkers Joint Action Committee participate in a protest in New Delhi, Friday, November 25, 2022. Manish Swarup/AP
“Amazon workers need higher pay. We need safer work,” said Jennifer Crane, who works at the Missouri warehouse, in a video made by Make Amazon Pay. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Amazon can afford to pay us a living wage and provide us with a standard of work that does not result in injury and death.”
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel previously told Insider that the company is working to address the campaign’s issues, including carbon emissions and competitive wages.
“These groups represent different interests, and while we’re not perfect in any one area, if you look objectively at what Amazon is doing in each of these areas, you’ll see that we really take our role and our impact very seriously,” Nantel said.
While efforts to unionize Amazon employees in the U.S. have garnered a lot of headlines, workers are also demanding better working conditions overseas. Subcontractor drivers in Japan recently formed a union that protested outside the trading giant’s Japanese headquarters in Meguro, Tokyo.
In Bangladesh, garment workers rallied for union recognition, better pay and humane working conditions.
“Garment workers like the ones I represent toil to fill Amazon’s coffers, often without any recognition that we are Amazon workers,” Nazma Akhter, president of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation in Bangladesh, said in a statement .
Achter continued: “Amazon is the third largest direct employer in the world, but when you consider us in the supply chain, it’s even bigger.”
Even some corporate employees are considering unionizing, according to reports seen by Insider’s Kathryn Long. This comes after Amazon announced plans to lay off 10,000 corporate employees, with the effort beginning on November 15.
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