News: Make Amazon Pay: Workers plan Black Friday protest

Employee Relations

Make Amazon Pay: Workers plan Black Friday protest

Activists are calling out the ecommerce giant's lack of effort in prioritising people and the planet. But the company says it takes its societal impact "very seriously".
Make Amazon Pay: Workers plan Black Friday protest

Amazon workers are organising a global strike on one of the biggest shopping holidays of the year – Black Friday. Protests are set to take place at warehouses, data centres, and corporate offices. 

Workers are pressuring Amazon to increase wages, pay higher taxes, and minimise the company's carbon footprint, according to the activist group dubbed Make Amazon Pay.

"The pandemic has exposed how Amazon places profits ahead of workers, society, and our planet," the group said. "Amazon takes too much and gives back too little."

Protesters laid down 25 demands, such as giving workers a salary hike and paid sick leave, allowing workers to join unions, and pledging to go net zero by 2030.

According to Kelly Nantel, director of national media relations at Amazon, the company takes its community impact "very seriously," USA Today reported. Nantel emphasised Amazon's commitment to becoming net zero by 2040 as well as its purportedly "competitive" wages and benefits and efforts to maintain employee health and safety.

The spokesperson, however, did not clarify how the strikes would impact operations, especially at Amazon fulfilment centres.

Last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy admitted publicly that the world's largest online retailer has "plenty we can keep working on" when it comes to employee policies. 

"I think if you have a large group of people like we do – we have 1.2 million employees – it's almost like a small country," Jassy said, as reported by People Matters. "There are lots of things you could do better."

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Topics: Employee Relations, Compensation & Benefits, #IndustrialRelations

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