Thousands of Amazon employees are set to participate in strikes and protests across more than 20 countries during Black Friday, raising concerns about labor conditions and the company’s environmental impact. Demonstrations are planned in major cities in the U.S., Germany, the U.K., Austria, and Poland, according to The Guardian.
The protests are being coordinated by the Make Amazon Pay campaign, which unites over 80 trade unions and activist groups. The campaign accuses Amazon of exploiting workers while neglecting environmental responsibility.
“While the company tripled its profits at the start of 2024, it has been surveilling drivers and warehouse workers and pressuring them in ways that expose them to severe physical and psychological harm,” the campaign organizers said in a statement.
The statement also criticized Amazon for “exploiting people and the planet,” noting that the company extracted $2 billion from American taxpayers for building new data centers while its founder, Jeff Bezos, moved to Miami to save $600 million in taxes.
Organizers also highlighted Amazon’s plans to install 465,000 new energy-intensive AI servers annually, most of which, they claim, will not be powered by renewable energy.
In the U.K., Amazon represents “everything wrong with the economy,” according to Amanda Gearing, a lead organizer with the GMB union. She pointed to issues like precarious employment, low wages, and often unsafe working conditions as key grievances.
The protests and strikes are expected to take place between November 29 and December 2, coinciding with one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year, spanning Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
