What you should know about the Amazon strike planned for Black Friday

Workers at the world’s largest online retailer are planning a strike on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the holiday season.

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

The strike, called “Amazon Pays Days of Resistance,” is scheduled to last from Black Friday through Cyber ​​Monday, the union announced in a press release. The demonstrators are demanding higher wages and workers’ permission to organize unions.

The strike could lead to delays in holiday deliveries for customers, economic experts told ABC News.

According to UNI Global Union, unions and allied groups around the world plan to take part.

Thousands of workers in the German cities of Graben, Dortmund Werne, Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Koblenz and Rheinberg will also protest, in addition to hundreds in New Delhi demonstrating to demand fair treatment following mistreatment of workers during a heatwave in New Delhi to demand July, the union said.

The Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and Citizens’ Actions will stage protests in several cities across France, and textile workers will also take to the streets in Bangladesh, the union said.

This year marks the fifth annual Make Amazon Pay demonstration, which aims to “hold Amazon accountable globally” by targeting a busy holiday shopping weekend. Amazon accounted for 18% of global Black Friday sales in 2023, with total holiday sales of more than $170 billion, according to an earnings report released earlier this year.

“Amazon’s relentless pursuit of profit comes at the expense of workers, the environment and democracy,” said Christy Hoffman, Secretary General of UNI Global Union. “(Jeff) Bezos’ company has spent untold millions to discourage workers from organizing, but the strikes and protests around the world show that workers’ desire for justice – for union representation – cannot be stopped. We stand united to demand that Amazon treats its employees fairly, respects fundamental rights and stops undermining the systems designed to protect us all.”

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

“This group intentionally misleads and continues to spread a false narrative,” said Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards. “The fact is that at Amazon we offer great pay, great benefits and great opportunities from day one. We have created more than 1.5 million jobs worldwide and counting, and we provide a modern, safe and engaging workplace, whether you work in an office or in one of our company buildings.”

The company announced a $2.2 billion investment earlier this year to increase pay for fulfillment and transportation workers in the United States. As a result, the average base wage for these employees is now more than $22 per hour and the average total compensation is more than $29 per hour. The value of their chosen benefits is taken into account, according to the company.

Comprehensive benefits for these employees, starting on the first day of employment, include medical, vision and dental insurance; a 401(k) with 50% company match; up to 20 weeks of paid leave, including 14 weeks of pregnancy-related disability leave and six weeks of parental leave; and Amazon’s Career Choice program, which Amazon says prepays college tuition.

A previous statement from Amazon to ABC News said: “While we are always listening and looking for ways to improve, we are proud of the competitive pay, comprehensive benefits and engaging, safe work experiences we provide our teams.”

Amazon workers have been vocal about workers’ rights in recent years, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic increased online orders in 2020. U.S. e-commerce sales rose from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic, according to the Census Bureau’s annual retail survey.

In 2022, a worker-led independent group led the first U.S. corporate union, organizing a 6,000-employee Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York.

While subsequent attempts to establish facilities in Alabama and New York failed, the effort continued.

In June 2023, nearly 2,000 Amazon employees staged a strike after a return-to-office order was issued. In Kentucky, Amazon employees who spoke to ABC News alleged that the company was waging an anti-union campaign to discourage employees from organizing.

Amazon told ABC News last year that disciplinary action taken by the company at an Amazon facility in Kentucky was in response to violations of company policies.

“Amazon is pushing as hard as it can get, but it changes its behavior depending on its jurisdiction,” James Schneider, communications director for Progressive International, told ABC News this week. “Let’s say that in Sweden they work much better with the unions. But in the US they are committed to fighting unions.”

A 2022 report from the United Nations International Labor Organization concluded that post-pandemic inflation and rising costs of living have reduced the value of the minimum wage worldwide.

The rise in inflation has paved the way for collective action, experts say. (Starbucks was also part of the union resurgence in 2022.)

“Amazon is everywhere, but so are we. By uniting our movements across borders, we can not only force Amazon to change its behavior, but also lay the foundation for a world where human dignity prevails, not Jeff Bezos’ bank balance,” said Varsha Gandikota – Nellutla, co-general coordinator of Progressive International.

ABC News’ Max Zahn contributed to this report.