Amazon Workers Strike and Protest Across Europe

This Friday, which is known as one of the busiest shopping days of the year, Amazon workers strike and begin wide-spread demonstrations across Europe. Workers and activists are organising strategic protests with the goal to disrupt the operations at Amazon’s warehouses and hinder deliveries to its parcel lockers.

In Germany, which stands as Amazon’s second-largest market by sales in 2022, workers at five Amazon fulfilment centres are set to strike for a full 24 hours from midnight Thursday. The strike, fueled by the demand for a collective wage agreement, is being organised in the cities of Bad Hersfeld, Dortmund, Koblenz, Leipzig, and Rheinberg, said the trade union Verdi. However, an Amazon spokesperson in Germany maintains that workers receive fair wages, over 14 euros ($15.27) as a starting hourly rate, along with added benefits, and assures that Black Friday deliveries will go ahead without disturbance.

Over in the UK, a demonstration is also brewing amidst a long-standing dispute over wages. The trade union GMB expects that more than 1,000 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Coventry, England, will strike on Black Friday. Furthermore, a protest is being organised right at Amazon’s UK headquarters in London. Meanwhile, an Amazon UK spokesperson has proclaimed that the strike won’t cause any disruption.

In France, protestors plan to interfere with Amazon parcel lockers, and “anti-globalisation organisation Attac is encouraging activists to plaster them with posters and ticker tape, potentially blocking delivery workers and customers from being able to open them.”

Elsewhere in Europe, the Italian trade union CGIL is calling for a Black Friday strike at the Castel San Giovanni warehouse. Meanwhile, in Spain, union CCOO advocates for warehouse and delivery workers to stage a one-hour strike on every shift on “Cyber Monday.”

Over the past year, Amazon strikes have already occurred in places like LA and England.