Amazon Black Friday Protests Demand Secure Situations, AI Accountability

Amazon staff in additional than 30 nations launched coordinated strikes and protests on Black Friday, kicking off the sixth annual “Make Amazon Pay” marketing campaign with what organizers say is the motion’s largest mobilization up to now.

The wave of walkouts, rallies, and demonstrations runs by way of December 1, spanning warehouses, information facilities, workplaces, and public areas worldwide. UNI World Union, which represents tens of millions of service sector staff worldwide, and Progressive Worldwide, a world community of labor and activist organizations, are organizing the protests.

Organizers say the actions mirror mounting frustration over all the things from heat-related warehouse accidents and aggressive productiveness stress to Amazon’s booming AI and cloud operations, rising local weather impression, and its work with immigration and law-enforcement companies.

“Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and their political allies are betting on a techno-authoritarian future, however this Make Amazon Pay Day, staff in all places are saying: sufficient,” stated Christy Hoffman, basic secretary of UNI World Union, in a press release. “For years, Amazon has squashed staff’ proper to democracy on the job by way of a union and the backing of authoritarian political figures.”

An Amazon spokesperson stated in a press release, “The actual fact is at Amazon we offer nice pay, nice advantages, and nice alternatives—all from day one. We straight make use of greater than 1.5 million folks around the globe, and supply a contemporary, protected, and fascinating office whether or not you’re employed in an workplace or at one in every of our operations buildings.”

Amazon staff in India demand labor protections

This 12 months, 1000’s of staff are rallying in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and greater than 20 different Indian cities, demanding truthful wages, protected circumstances, and safety from excessive warmth.

A UNI World Union survey of 474 Amazon warehouse and supply staff in India, performed between June and July, illustrated labor considerations driving this 12 months’s actions. Three-quarters of respondents stated they or a coworker required medical consideration attributable to warmth publicity. Greater than half reported “extraordinarily scorching and unsafe” or “insufferable” working circumstances.

The findings come one 12 months after India’s Human Rights Fee referred to as for an investigation into labor practices at an Amazon facility close to New Delhi, the place staff had been reportedly discouraged from taking water breaks throughout a extreme warmth wave. Amazon staff in India additionally held protests over this final 12 months.

“No employee must be pressured to threat their well being — or their life — for Amazon’s backside line,” Hoffman stated. “Warmth protections have to be enforceable, and staff themselves should have a say in setting the requirements.”

Protesters criticize Amazon’s environmental impression and ICE ties

Over 1,000 Amazon company staff printed an open letter criticizing the corporate’s rollout of synthetic intelligence. The letter argues that Amazon is abandoning its local weather commitments to fund AI infrastructure, citing a $150 billion funding in new information facilities regardless of the corporate’s pledge to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.

The staff demanded that Amazon energy all information facilities with renewable power, set up employee committees with authority over AI deployment choices, and refuse to offer AI expertise for what they describe as “violence, surveillance, or mass deportation.”

The expanded agenda of “Make Amazon Pay” this 12 months emphasizes what organizers name a “techno-authoritarian future” — the convergence of Huge Tech firms with authoritarian political forces. The coalition stated that Amazon funded Trump’s inauguration and that the corporate’s latest filings present it paid $1.4 billion much less in taxes.

Exterior of Amazon, organizers deliberate protests throughout a number of US cities, together with Chicago, Newark, New York, Oakland, San Bernardino, and Washington, D.C. Demonstrators are specializing in Amazon’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demanding the corporate cease offering infrastructure they are saying powers the company’s deportation operations.

“Amazon is not only a retailer — it’s a pillar of a brand new authoritarian order constructed on surveillance and exploitation,” David Adler, co-general coordinator of the Progressive Worldwide, stated in a press release. “From ICE raids to the repression of Palestinians, Amazon’s applied sciences are woven into programs of violence worldwide.”

Amazon staff name for unionization efforts

In Germany, the providers union Verdi coordinated work stoppages at 9 logistics amenities, Reuters reported. About 3,000 staff participated, in keeping with the union, which continues to hunt a collective bargaining settlement.

Amazon maintains about 40,000 staff at German logistics facilities, plus 12,000 extra seasonal hires for the vacation rush. The corporate advised Reuters the walkouts wouldn’t have an effect on buyer deliveries and that its compensation is aggressive.

Extra protests came about in Canada, the place CSN, a serious commerce union, and CTI, an advocate for immigrant staff, held an indication in downtown Montreal, calling for a boycott of Amazon.

The protest adopted Amazon’s closure of a number of Quebec distribution facilities that resulted in 4,500 job losses, CityNews Montreal reported. Union leaders accused Amazon of retaliating in opposition to staff’ unionization efforts, with one organizer noting the timing between the unionization of a warehouse and Amazon’s resolution to shut amenities within the area.

Different actions occurred in Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Nepal, Brazil, Bangladesh, Colombia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Greece, the UK, South Africa, and Gaza.

Amazon staff achieved some union victories in 2025. A warehouse in Delta, British Columbia, has change into the primary Canadian Amazon facility to realize union illustration after labor officers dominated that the corporate improperly interfered with the organizing marketing campaign. Amazon is contesting the ruling.

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