What to recognize about the Amazon strike planned for Black Friday

Workers for the largest online retailer in the globe are planning to leave on strike during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the holiday period.

Amazon employees are preparing to protest in 20 countries, including in major cities in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil, starting on Black Friday over “labor abuses, environmental degradation and threats to democracy,” according to UNI Global Union and Progressive International, a Switzerland-based global labor union.

Dubbed the “Make Amazon Pay days of resistance,” the strike is scheduled to last from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the union announced in a press release. Demonstrators are calling for increased wages and for employees to be permitted to unionize.

The strike could navigator to delays in holiday deliveries for customers, economy experts told ABC information.

Unions and allied groups around the globe are planning to participate, according to UNI Global Union.

Thousands of workers in the German cities of Graben, Dortmund Werne, impoverished Hersfeld, Leipzig, Koblenz and Rheinberg will also protest, in addition to hundreds in recent Delhi, who are demonstrating to demand fair treatment following the mistreatment of workers during a heat wave in July, the union said.

The Association for the Taxation of monetary Transactions and Citizen’s Action will hold protests in multiple cities across France, and garment workers will also receive 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 globe” by targeting a busy holiday shopping weekend. In 2023, Amazon represented 18% of the worldwide Black Friday sales, with more than $170 billion in total holiday sales, according to an returns update released earlier this year.

“Amazon’s relentless pursuit of returns comes at a expense to workers, the surroundings and democracy,” said Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union. “[Jeff] Bezos’ corporation has spent untold millions to stop workers from organizing, but the strikes and protests happening around the globe display that workers’ desire for fairness — for union representation — can’t be stopped. We stand united in demanding that Amazon treat its workers fairly, regard fundamental rights, and stop undermining the systems meant to protect us all.”

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

“This throng is being intentionally misleading and continues to promote a untrue narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said. “The truth is at Amazon we provide great pay, great benefits, and great opportunities — all from day one. We’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs around the globe, and counting, and we provide a modern, secure, and engaging workplace whether you work in an office or at one of our operations buildings.”

The corporation announced earlier this year a $2.2 billion capital apportionment to boost pay for fulfillment and transportation employees in the U.S. As a outcome, the average base wage for these employees is now more than $22 per hour and the average total compensation more than $29 per hour when the worth of their elected benefits is factored in, according to the corporation.

Comprehensive benefits for these employees that commence on the first day of employment include health, imagination and dental insurance; a 401(k) with 50% corporation match; up to 20 weeks paid leave, which includes 14 weeks of pregnancy-related disability leave and six weeks of parental leave; and Amazon’s Career selection program, which prepays college tuition, according to Amazon.

An earlier statement to ABC information from Amazon stated: “While we’re always listening and looking at ways to enhance, we remain proud of the competitive pay, comprehensive benefits and engaging, secure work experiences we provide our teams.”

Amazon workers have been outspoken in recent years about workers’ rights, especially as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic increased the number of online orders. E-commerce sales in the U.S. increased by $244.2 billion — or 43% — in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, rising from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020, according to the Census Bureau’s Annual Retail Trade Survey.

In 2022, a worker-led independent throng led the first-ever U.S. union at the corporation, unionizing a 6,000-employee Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, recent York.

While subsequent attempts at facilities in Alabama and recent York have failed, efforts have continued.

In June 2023, nearly 2,000 Amazon workers organized a walkout after a mandate to yield to the office was issued. In Kentucky, Amazon employees who spoke to ABC information alleged that the corporation was leading a union-busting campaign to discourage employees from organizing.

Amazon told ABC information last year that the disciplinary action taken by the corporation at an Amazon facility in Kentucky came in response to infractions of corporation policy.

“Amazon squeezes everything that it can get, but it changes its behavior depending on its jurisdiction,” James Schneider, communications director for Progressive International, told ABC information this week. “Let’s declare, in Sweden, it engages much better at how it operates with trade unions. But in the U.S., it engages in union busting.”

A 2022 update by the United Nations’ International Labour Organization found that post-pandemic expense boost and the rising expense of living have been decreasing the worth of minimum wage globally.

The rise of expense boost has paved the way for collective action, experts declare. (Starbucks was also part of the 2022 union resurgence.)

“Amazon is everywhere, but so are we. By uniting our movements across borders, we can not only force Amazon to transformation its ways but lay the foundations of a globe that prioritizes human dignity, not Jeff Bezos’ financial institution equilibrium,” said Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, Progressive International’s co-general coordinator.

ABC information’ Max Zahn contributed to this update.