Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

Amazon Workers Strike on Black Friday in Italy and Germany

On Black Friday, workers from the distributions centers in Germany and northern Italy went on strike to demand better salaries.

Diego Lotito

November 27, 2017
Facebook Twitter Share

Image from Yahoo News

The strike began on Friday morning and ended the morning after, affecting Amazon’s ability to meet the demand of e-commerce sales on Black Friday. While Thanksgiving celebration remains a U.S. cultural holiday, Black Friday, which marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S., has become a European tradition. For Amazon, a multinational, mass profits are generated during this time that begins on Black Friday and ends on what has been called “Cyber Monday” — a time of unbridled consumerism. This year, workers in Europe threw a wrench into this profit-generating machine.

In Germany, the spokesman of Ver.Di, a German trade union based in Berlin, told the press that around 2,500 employees went on strike in the distribution centers in Bad Hersfeld, Leipzig, Rheinberg, Werne, Graben and Coblenz.

protest-2.jpg
Image from La Voce Delle Lotte

Amazon “wants to make record of sales on this day but workers have to make record performance every day for everything to work as Amazon wants” said Stefanie Nutzenberger, member of the board of Ver.Di.

Since 2013, Ver.Di has struggled for better salaries and working conditions for the approximately 12,000 employees in Germany. According to the union, Amazon’s workers receive lower salaries than those of similar companies. Amazon maintains that it is a “fair and responsible” employer and that it offers “attractive jobs”. Amazon has enjoyed enormous growth, but workers don’t see any of those profits. This is true around the world– not only in Germany and Italy, but in the United States as well (see chart below).

amazon_growth.png

There were solidarity actions held by about 400 people in Berlin and in Leipzig, both organized by the “Make Amazon Pay” alliance. Amazon workers from Poland also attended the action to highlight that they too are struggling for better salaries and working conditions. In Germany, however, the labor movements were the most consequential. Strikers blocked the distribution centers and managed to prevent the dispatch of products for a brief period of time

In Italy, the strike was supported by the several unions ( CGIL, CISL, UIL, UGL etc), and affected a distribution center in the northern part of the country. There, Amazon workers have to literally run around the worksite to keep up with the work rhythm imposed by the company.

The SiCobas union, active in the logistics district of Piacenza, organized a picket to block the movement of the goods so that the company’s operations be really affected. Around 300 workers participated in the blockade. Despite union opposition, around 130 workers from other nearby warehouses joined the picket.

The simultaneous strikes organized by German and Italian Amazon workers interrupted Amazon’s global operations. While the outcomes of these protests are still difficult to foresee, the momentum of these local events may impact the conditions of workers around the world.

This article was originally published on La Izquierda Diario . It was translated by Nicolas Tesla.

Facebook Twitter Share

Diego Lotito

Diego is a journalist from Madrid. He is a member of the Revolutionary Workers Current (CRT) and an editor of IzquierdaDiario.es.

Twitter

Europe

At a Meeting in Paris, 1,200 People Put Revolution Back on the Agenda

Last Wednesday, 1,200 people attended a meeting of Révolution Permanente, the sister site of Left Voice in France. The group has been playing an important role in the fight against neoliberal reforms and the Far Right, while showing that a world beyond capitalism is more possible than ever.

Feargal McGovern

March 12, 2024

Berlinale: Filmmakers Say What the Rest of the World is Saying

At the Berlinale film festival, Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers called for equality and peace. German politicians want to ban such hateful talk.

Nathaniel Flakin

February 28, 2024

“Antideutsche”: The Aberration of Germany’s Pro-Zionist Left

As Germany persists in its unwavering support of Israel and the total denial of its genocide, the German Left is conflicted over the issue. While leftists all over the world are showing solidarity with Palestine, a segment of the German Left is historically pro-Zionist. How did this movement, the so-called Antideutsche (Anti-Germans) come to be?

Seb Zürcher

February 21, 2024

Why German Media are Lying About the Palestine Solidarity Movement at the Free University of Berlin

A rally in front of the Free University of Berlin had as many journalists as demonstrators. This is yet another example of the international campaign to defame all protests against Israel's genocidal military campaign.

Nathaniel Flakin

February 16, 2024

MOST RECENT

Former president Donald Trump standing at a podium in front of American flags.

To Stop Trump, We Need Much More Democracy, Not Less

Democrats have been trying to kick Trump off the ballot as an "insurrectionist." Liberals say we have to restrict democracy in order to save it. As socialists, we think they have it backwards: to beat the Far Right, we need a mass movement fighting for radical democracy.

Nathaniel Flakin

March 18, 2024

Declaration: End Imperialist Intervention in Haiti, Solidarity with the Haitian People

The “Multinational Security Support Mission” announced by the United States marks a new imperialist-colonial intervention in Haiti by the United States, the UN, and their allies.

“Poor Things” Floats Like a Butterfly and Stings Like a Butterfly

Poor Things is a fantastical comedy with beautiful set design and costumes and an Oscar-winning performance from Emma Stone. So why did it leave me feeling so empty? Despite juggling feminist and socialist ideas, the film is ideologically muddled and often self-contradictory.

Basil Rozlaban

March 16, 2024

New Jersey Democrats Attack the Public’s Right to Government Records

The New Jersey state assembly, led by the Democratic Party, just tried to fast-track a bill that would have gutted the Open Public Records Act. This is a reminder that their party is an obstacle, not an ally, in the fight to preserve democracy.

Samuel Karlin

March 15, 2024