Amazon Black Friday protests: Verdi and Greenpeace walk the barricades

amazon black friday protest
Verdi and Greenpeace are on the barricades

11/25/2022 2:23 pm

Environmental and consumer advocates have been critical of the US company Amazon for years. Right in time for “Black Friday,” Verdi and Greenpeace are calling for protests around the world: With the “Make Amazon Pay” campaign, they’re criticizing the group’s “horrible, unsafe practices.”

For the annual “Black Friday” discount campaign, trade unions and environmentalists in more than 30 countries have called for protests against the billion-dollar Amazon corporation. The “Make Amazon Pay” campaign called for better wages and the conclusion of binding collective agreements. In Germany, the Verdi union organized a walkout by workers at several Amazon fulfillment centers. About 200 people demonstrated in Leipzig.

In Munich, environmental organization Greenpeace put up a protest banner at the German Amazon headquarters. Strike calls were also made, inter alia, in the US and France. The “Make Amazon Pay” campaign accuses Amazon of exploiting both the environment and its own workers. The group rejects collective agreements, a dispute with the unions that has been ongoing for years.

The International Trade Union Federation is significantly involved in the UNI campaign. Its secretary general, Christy Hoffman, called on the company to immediately stop “its terrible, unsafe practices” and negotiate better working conditions with the workers.

In a Munich protest action, Greenpeace accused Amazon of contributing to excessive consumption, packaging waste and waste of resources with its annual discount battle on “Black Friday”. Rallies against Amazon should be held not only in industrialized countries, but also in developing countries such as Bangladesh, where seamstresses and garment workers were called to protest.

Amazon denies all allegations

Amazon rejected the allegations from both directions. “We offer our employees in the logistics centers competitive wages and great social benefits and make sure they have a secure job and stay healthy,” a company spokeswoman in Munich said in a written statement. The Amazon plays an important role in fighting climate change and has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2040.

In Germany, Amazon now employs 20,000 people in logistics, and the US company operates 20 shipping centers in Germany. Out of these twenty companies, the strike was called in nine. Ninety percent of logistics workers gave their jobs top marks in recent company surveys, an Amazon spokeswoman said. “We don’t see any impact on customers from the campaign.”