What to Know About the Amazon Strike Planned for Black Friday

Workers at the world’s largest online retailer plan to strike during the busiest shopping weekends of the holiday season.

According to UNI Global, Amazon workers are preparing to protest in 20 countries, including major cities such as the US, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil, from Black Friday against “labor abuses, environmental degradation and threats to democracy”. Union and Progressive International, a global trade union based in Switzerland.

The strike, dubbed the “Make Amazon Pay Days of Resistance,” will run from Black Friday to Cyber ​​Monday, the union announced in a press release. Demonstrators are demanding higher wages and allowing workers to unionize.

Economists told ABC News that the strike could lead to delays in holiday deliveries to customers.

According to UNI Global Union, unions and affiliated groups from around the world plan to participate.

Thousands of workers in the German cities of Graben, Dortmund Werne, Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Koblenz and Rheinberg planned to demonstrate, in addition to hundreds in New Delhi, to demand fair treatment of workers who continue to be mistreated during the heat wave. July, the union said.

The Taxation Association for Financial Transactions and Citizen Action will hold protests in several cities across France, and garment workers will take to the streets in Bangladesh, the union said.

This year marks the fifth annual Make Amazon Pay demonstration, which aims to “hold Amazon accountable around the world” during the busy holiday shopping weekend. In 2023, Amazon represented 18% of global Black Friday sales, totaling more than $170 billion in holiday sales, according to an earnings report released earlier this year.

“Amazon’s relentless pursuit of profits comes at a cost to workers, the environment and democracy,” said Christie Hoffman, general secretary of the UNI Global Union. “[Jeff] Bezos’ company has spent millions trying to prevent workers from organizing, but strikes and protests around the world show that workers’ demands for justice — and union representation — are unstoppable. We are united in demanding that Amazon treat its workers fairly, respect basic rights and stop undermining the systems that protect us all.”

Amazon defended its treatment of workers in a statement to ABC News on Thursday.

“This group is intentionally misleading and continues to promote a false narrative,” Amazon spokeswoman Elaine Hartz said. “The truth is, at Amazon we offer great pay, great benefits and great opportunities — from day one. We’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs around the world and count. We offer a modern, safe and engaging workplace. Whether you work in an office or in one of our operations buildings Workplace.”

The company earlier this year announced a $2.2 billion investment to boost wages for fulfillment and transportation workers in the US. As a result, the average base wage for these employees is now more than $22 an hour and the average total compensation is more than $29 an hour. The value of the benefits they choose is factored in, according to the company.

Comprehensive benefits for these employees starting on the first day of employment include health, vision and dental insurance; 401(k) with 50% company match; up to 20 weeks of paid leave, including 14 weeks of pregnancy-related disability leave and six weeks of parental leave; According to Amazon, Amazon’s Career Choice program pays for college tuition in advance.

An earlier statement from Amazon to ABC News said: “While we’re always listening and looking for ways to improve, we offer our teams competitive pay, comprehensive benefits and engaging, safe work experiences.”

Amazon workers have been outspoken about workers’ rights in recent years, especially as the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic increased the number of online orders. According to the Census Bureau’s annual retail trade survey, e-commerce sales in the U.S. increased by $244.2 billion — or 43% — in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion.

In 2022, a labor-led independent group led the company’s first U.S. union, unionizing an Amazon warehouse with 6,000 employees in Staten Island, New York.

Although subsequent attempts at facilities in Alabama and New York failed, efforts continued.

In June 2023, nearly 2,000 Amazon workers walked out after being ordered to return to the office. In Kentucky, Amazon workers who spoke to ABC News accused the company of waging a union-busting campaign to discourage workers from organizing.

Amazon told ABC News last year that the company’s disciplinary action at an Amazon facility in Kentucky came in response to violations of company policy.

“Amazon is squeezing everything it can get, but it’s changing its behavior depending on its jurisdiction,” James Schneider, director of communications for Progressive International, told ABC News this week. “Let’s say in Sweden, it’s very involved in how it works with unions. But in America, it’s involved in union busting.”

According to the United Nations International Labor Organization’s 2022 report, post-pandemic inflation and the rising cost of living are reducing the value of the minimum wage globally.

Experts say rising inflation has paved the way for collective action. (Starbucks was also part of the 2022 union revival.)

“Amazon is everywhere, but so are we. By uniting our movements across borders, we can not only change Amazon’s ways, but lay the foundation for a world that prioritizes human dignity, not Jeff Bezos’s bank balance,” said Varsha Gandikota. -Nellutla, Associate General Coordinator, Progressive International.

ABC News’ Max John contributed to this report.