Amazon workers plan global protests during the Black Friday shopping weekend for the fifth year in a row

Amazon workers in the UK picketed outside a warehouse earlier this year, part of a steady increase in labor activism at the retail behemoth.

Workers in more than 20 countries, including the U.S., are set to protest or strike between Black Friday and Cyber Monday over wages, working conditions, and Amazon’s environmental impact.

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

In New Delhi, where employees said Amazon kept them working during a heat wave this spring, workers plan to march on Parliament demanding higher wages and job protections. Workers in several German warehouses are set to walk off the job.

In New York City, workers affiliated with the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union are marching on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ penthouse.

Have the protests worked?

Yes and no.

Amazon has downplayed the protests, characterizing them as small-scale and saying the labor groups organizing Make Amazon Pay are presenting a misleadingly negative portrait of working at the company.

“The fact is at Amazon we provide great pay, great benefits, and great opportunities—all from day one,” spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement. “We’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs around the world, and counting, and we provide a modern, safe, and engaging workplace whether you work in an office or at one of our operations buildings.”

Separately, it has also taken steps that respond to some of protesters’ demands, though not all workers say they’re pleased with the company’s rate of progress.

As labor groups make inroads into Amazon’s U.S. fulfillment network, the company has boosted wages and broadcast its commitment to safety.

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

In September, Amazon raised wages for warehouse and transportation workers to an average of $22 per 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 where we review our wages and benefits to ensure that they stay competitive.”

What about Amazon’s climate footprint?

This summer, Amazon also announced that it had met an ambitious climate target, of “matching” the electricity consumed by its global operations with renewable energy, while reducing its carbon footprint 3% from the prior year.

The company said it met that target seven years earlier than it had anticipated, in part by becoming the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the world.

In 2019, thousands of Amazon employees and other tech workers in Seattle walked out in protest of the company’s carbon policies.

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

Amazon focused on “all the low-hanging fruit projects that it could. But now those are all done, and what we’re seeing is they’re not doing the hard stuff,” Eliza Pan, a former Amazon employee and member of the climate group, told The Seattle Times in July.

Hards, the Amazon spokesperson, said Amazon is not done reducing its carbon footprint.

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

What do the protests mean for Black Friday shopping?

Significant delays haven’t occurred as a result of Make Amazon Pay protests in prior years, and it seems unlikely they will impact shipping times this year.

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