Amazon.com Inc employees in Europe protested warehouse working conditions in a move to disrupt operations during the ‘Black Friday Sale’, the biggest shopping day of the year.
Workers in Germany, Spain and France walked off the job at Amazon fulfillment centers on Friday. In Italy and the United Kingdom, workers protested at several facilities. A coalition of unions across Europe coordinated the action and the British trade union GMB published a video of the staff telling Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos “we are not robots” in five different languages.
UNI Global, the trade union helping coordinate the walkout, said roughly 2,400 staff are on strike in Europe.
The union said that Amazon employees receive lower wages than others in retail and mail-order jobs. The online retail giant says its distribution warehouses in Germany are logistics centers and employees earn relatively high for that industry.
However, the e-commerce firm said that the demonstrations in Europe did not disrupt operations and disputed the level of protest participation claimed by some unions.
While Black Friday discounts have traditionally been a US retail event, companies have increasingly been offering discounts in other countries too.
