Amazon protests in Europe target warehouses and lockers on a busy Black Friday. On Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, European workers and activists intend to demonstrate against the U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon to disrupt its facilities and prevent items from reaching Amazon parcel lockers.
Many stores in the United States lower their prices on the day after the Thanksgiving holiday, known as “Black Friday,” to increase their revenue. The event, formerly renowned for crowds lined up at big-box retailers in the United States, has increasingly migrated online and gone global. Amazon (AMZN.O), which offers ten days of holiday discounts this year from November 17 to November 27, significantly contributes to the event’s online and worldwide expansion.
According to the trade union Verdi, workers at five Amazon fulfillment centers in Bad Hersfeld, Dortmund, Koblenz, Leipzig, and Rheinberg will go on strike for 24 hours at midnight on Thursday to seek a collective pay agreement. Germany is expected to be Amazon’s second-biggest market by sales in 2022.
An Amazon spokesman in Germany stated that employees are given fair salaries, with a starting salary of more than 14 euros ($15.27) an hour, and they have access to extra perks. The spokesperson also stated that deliveries of Black Friday orders will be dependable and timely.
According to the trade union GMB, more than one thousand workers at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry, England, will go on strike on Friday due to a protracted dispute over wages. The disagreement has been going on for quite some time. Union members are also planning a rally in London, the location of Amazon’s headquarters in the United Kingdom.
A representative for Amazon U.K. stated that the strike would not result in disruption. In addition to being targeted, Amazon’s parcel lockers are being attacked. Many Amazon customers pick up their purchases from the company’s lockers, which can be found in supermarket parking lots, train stations, and even on street corners.
The anti-globalization organization Attac is asking activists in France to cover them with posters and ticker tape, which might potentially prevent delivery personnel and clients from opening them.
Attac, which describes Black Friday as a “celebration of overproduction and overconsumption,” stated that it anticipates the protest to be larger than the previous year. According to Attac’s estimations, one hundred Amazon lockers were targeted across France during the previous year’s demonstration.
While the Spanish union CCOO asked for Amazon warehouse and delivery workers to organize a one-hour strike on each shift on “Cyber Monday,” the concluding day of Amazon’s ten-day sale, the Italian trade union CGIL called for a walkout on Black Friday at the Castel San Giovanni warehouse.
The UNI Global Union, coordinating the global “Make Amazon Pay” movement, has announced that there will be strikes and protests in more than 30 countries starting on Black Friday and lasting through Monday.
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