Amazon employees are planning global protests during the Black Friday shopping weekend for the fifth consecutive year

• Amazon workers in more than 20 countries will protest between Black Friday and Cyber ​​​​Monday.

• This is the fifth year that Amazon workers have protested during the big shopping weekend.

• The company has downplayed the measures while taking some steps to address workers’ demands.

Workers in more than 20 countries, including the United States, will protest or strike between Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday over wages, working conditions and Amazon’s impact on the environment.

The protests are part of the fifth annual “Make Amazon Pay” campaign organized by a coalition of unions and progressive organizations.

In New Delhi, where employees said Amazon kept them working during a heat wave this spring, workers plan to demonstrate outside Parliament demanding higher wages and job protections. Workers in several German warehouses will quit their jobs.

In New York City, workers from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union march against the penthouse of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Did the protests work?

Nope.

Amazon has downplayed the protests, calling them small-scale and claiming the work groups organizing Make Amazon Pay are painting a misleadingly negative image of work at the company.

“The fact is that at Amazon we offer great pay, great benefits and great opportunities from day one,” spokeswoman Eileen Hards said in a statement. “We have created more than 1.5 million jobs worldwide and counting, and we offer a modern, safe and engaging workplace, whether you work in an office or in one of our operational buildings.”

Separately, the company has also taken steps to respond to the demands of some protesters, although not all workers say they are happy with the company’s progress.

As unions invade Amazon’s U.S. logistics network, the company has increased wages and made clear its commitment to safety.

Over the past year, the Teamsters Union has won several organizing victories in Amazon’s American logistics operations. The Amazon Labor Union, which represents about 5,500 workers at a Staten Island warehouse, voted to join the Teamsters in June. Delivery drivers and air hub operators in California, Kentucky and Atlanta also joined the Teamsters.

In September, Amazon increased wages for warehouse and transportation workers to an average of $22 an hour. In a post on its website, the company did not cite labor activism as a reason for the raises, saying they were “part of an annual process in which we review our wages and benefits to ensure they remain competitive.”

What about Amazon’s climate footprint?

This summer, Amazon also announced that it had met an ambitious climate goal of “covering” the electricity consumption of its global operations with renewable energy while reducing its carbon footprint by 3% compared to last year.

The company said it reached that goal seven years earlier than expected, in part by becoming the world’s largest corporate buyer of renewable energy.

Members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, an organizing group made up largely of corporate workers, said the company’s calculations did not take into account emissions from third-party sellers, which account for more than half of sales on Amazon’s online store. Amazon has disputed the group’s findings.

“Amazon focused on “all projects that had little success. But now everyone’s done, and what we’re seeing is that they’re not doing the hard things,” Eliza Pan, a former Amazon employee and member of the climate group, told the Seattle Times in July.

Hards, the Amazon spokesman, said Amazon isn’t done reducing its carbon footprint yet.

“Some actions will deliver immediate carbon savings, while others will take years to produce results – and we will continue to invest in both proven and new science-based solutions to help solve this crisis,” Hards said.

What do the protests mean for Black Friday shopping?

There have been no significant delays due to the Make Amazon Pay protests in previous years, and they seem unlikely to impact shipping times this year.

The holiday season is a significant sales driver for the online retail giant. Amazon reported “record-breaking” holiday sales in the last three months of 2023. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said this on a conference call earlier this year. The company reported revenue of $170 billion in the quarter, up 14% year over year.

Read the original article on Business Insider