Amazon Faces Black Friday Strikes in US, Europe -- Update
24 November 2023 - 2:19PM
Dow Jones News
By Helena Smolak
Amazon.com faced strikes in the U.S. and Europe on Black Friday,
hitting the e-commerce giant at the start of the busy holiday
shopping weekend as labor unrest picks up on both sides of the
Atlantic.
Warehouse workers and drivers planned strikes Friday in the
U.S., the U.K., Germany, Italy and Spain to demand better wages and
working conditions, according to the UNI Global Union, a global
union federation focused on the services sector with affiliated
organizations from 150 countries. Further protests by climate
activists and workers are planned in other countries, the UNI
Global Union said.
The planned demonstrations could disrupt supply chains and
prevent merchandise from reaching Amazon on Black Friday as the
U.S. e-commerce giant aims to boost sales. Amazon had advertised 10
days of holiday discounts from Nov. 17 to Nov. 27.
An Amazon Germany spokesman said strikes wouldn't affect
deliveries.
"We offer great pay and benefits for our employees, with great
career opportunities, and provide a modern and safe working
environment for all," an Amazon U.K. spokesman said.
The industrial action is part of a global campaign known as
"Make Amazon Pay" coordinated by the UNI Global Union, which
expects strikes, protests and other action in more than 30
countries.
This is the fourth year that the campaign has taken place, but
this time the protests come against a background of rising labor
unrest in developed economies. The U.S. has seen walkouts in
industries ranging from auto making to entertainment, while labor
protests swept several European economies earlier this year.
In Germany, Amazon's second-biggest market by sales in 2022,
employees at five fulfillment centers in Bad Hersfeld, Dortmund,
Koblenz, Leipzig, and Rheinberg, began a 24-hour strike at midnight
on Thursday to demand a collective wage agreement, trade union
Ver.di said.
"Employees will continue to fight with great commitment for a
collective wage and health agreement. The exploitation of Amazon
employees must come to an end," Ver.di spokesman Jan Jurczyk
said.
An Amazon spokesman said employees in Germany are paid fair
wages, with a starting gross salary of more than 14 euros ($15.27)
an hour, including additional benefits.
Amazon's employees in Germany report pressure to perform and
intense workloads and surveillance that creates a climate of fear,
Silke Zimmer, a member of the Ver.di national executive board,
said.
"We reject the trade union's criticism as it does not reflect
reality. It's not for nothing that half of our colleagues have been
with us for over five years", an Amazon Germany spokesman told The
Wall Street Journal.
More than 1,000 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Coventry,
England went on strike Friday, the GMB Union said. Amazon was hit
by its first strike in the U.K. earlier this year in a dispute over
pay.
Meanwhile, the Italian and Spanish trade unions CGIL and CCOO
used social media to call for strikes over the Black Friday
weekend. Amazon workers in India also demonstrated, the UNI Global
Union said.
The UNI Global Union said protests are expected in Japan,
Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the U.K. and Canada against
the climate impact of Amazon's data centers, it said. In France,
anticapitalist group Attac called for protests targeting Amazon's
parcel lockers on social media.
An Amazon spokesperson said the company has invested billions of
dollars in packaging reduction and purchases of renewable energy
and electric vehicles as part of its target to achieve net zero
carbon emissions by 2040.
Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 24, 2023 08:04 ET (13:04 GMT)
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