A coalition of unions, human-rights organizations and environmentalist groups is using the run-up to Cyber Monday to protest the way Amazon treats workers, including warehouse conditions, pay and the company’s tactics in its war on unions, a report said.
The move, called “Make Amazon Pay,” includes planned strikes and protests at Amazon facilities around the world — and it comes after the company, run by mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos, got ripped for only giving out $10 turkey vouchers to workers and was forced to give larger holiday bonuses, according to Business Insider.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon became a trillion-dollar corporation, with Bezos becoming the first person in history to amass $200 billion in personal wealth,” a statement from the group read. “Meanwhile, Amazon warehouse workers risked their lives as essential workers, and only briefly received an increase in pay.”
Amazon workers had their $2-per-hour wage increase given to them in March, rescinded in June.
Make Amazon Pay told BI there were actions planned in Brazil, Mexico, the US, the UK, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Australia.
“In Germany, Amazon workers in seven warehouses went on strike, while in Bangladesh garment workers protested outside an Amazon supplier facility in Dhaka,” the group said.
Nazma Akter, a former child garment worker who is now the president Sommilito Garment Sramik Federation, tweeted: “#Amazon has doubled profits through COVID19 but they have still not paid suppliers in Bangladesh for finished orders cancelled during the pandemic.”
In England, “Make Amazon Pay” was projected on the side of Amazon’s London headquarters and the unions there are asking for the government to investigate “dehumanizing conditions.”
As for the paltry bonuses, Christy Hoffman, the general secretary of UNI Global Union, told Business Insider: “It is great that workers are getting more this holiday season. It is not enough. To show it values its workforce, Amazon should collectively bargain wages and conditions with workers throughout its operations rather than make one-time unilateral gestures of appreciation.”
