Amazon workers and trades union members in Spain , Germany , and the U.K. went on ten-strike this Black Friday — one of the busiest shopping days of the class for the retail giant — to protest for good pay and improved conditions at the company ’s storage warehouse , which have previously been described by U.K. and U.S. official as some of the most dangerous places to work in their respective commonwealth .
An Amazon spokesperson disputed written report of European protest in an email to Gizmodo , discover its operations in the region Friday as “ stage business as common ” and adding that no saving schedules would be interrupted .
“ Self - interest critic have a vested interest in spread misinformation about Amazon , but the fact enjoin a different story , ” the spokesperson wrote .
Photo: Thomas Samson (Getty)
patronage sexual union GMB organized hundreds of protestors across the U.K in demonstrations planned for today and Cyber Monday , a union spokesperson toldBusiness Insider . Several union officials and local politicians twitch about picture of brotherhood fellow member and Amazon employees sportings sign that study “ We are not golem . ” Strikers in Spain staged a similar effort outside an Amazon belt down - up location in Madrid .
GMB organize at Amazon in Sheffield this dayspring . century of driver taking leaflets and joining the union @GMB_union @GMBCampaigns @RixyieOrganiser @leeparkinson14pic.twitter.com/sEGyvMFfmk
— Sue Wood ( @SueWood09373512)November 29 , 2019
A freeze daybreak on#BlackFridayoutside the Rugeley@amazondepot with the@GMBstanding up for the rights of@amazonworkers . One untested valet de chambre with his shaver nearly in snag just terminate . A twenty-first century company ! More like a 19th one C millowner . disgrace on you,@JeffBezospic.twitter.com/751vK7YFNY
— Jack Dromey MP ( @JackDromeyMP)November 29 , 2019
In a instruction tomultipleoutlets , GMB ’s national ship’s officer , Mick Rix , called conditions at Amazon ’s U.K. fulfilment centers as “ dismaying . ”
“ Workers are breaking bone , being knocked unconscious and being taken away in ambulances . Amazon has spent a luck on fluffy advertising saying what a great piazza it is to work out . Why not spend the money make their warehouse less life-threatening places to work ? ”
Last twelvemonth , Amazon ’s Rugeley , England center has been dubbed “ one of the most dangerous space to work in Britain ” by GMB union officials , according toa BBC reportthat cited multiple incidents of electrical shock and hurt between 2015 and 2017 . At least one significant employee was purportedly necessitate to endure for upwards of 10 hours per solar day or risk reassignment . Another reportfound that U.K. Amazon storage warehouse employee faced such brutal work stride that they allegedly peed in bottleful to keep from falling behind .
In the past three class alone , ambulances were address out to amazon ’s U.K. locations roughly 600 time , according to a 2018Guardian investigating . An Amazon spokesperson at the time argued this data failed to suggest unsafe working conditions and insisted that — according to the U.K. ’s Health and Safety Executive ’s method acting of injury reporting — the company really experienced 43 percent fewer employee injuries on mean equate to similar fellowship in the region .
In Germany , workers coordinate by the trade union Ver.di plan to continue striking through the weekend and maybe into Tuesday . Per Business Insider ’s write up , more than 2,200 strikers joined the protest , with employees walk out from distribution centers in Leipzig , Bad Hersfeld , Koblenz , Rheinberg , Werne , and Graben , affect just shy of half the land ’s total storage warehouse . While Amazonrecently raised minimum wage ratesin the U.K. and America , unions in Germany have been trying to negotiate a collective wage understanding with Amazon for the better part of the last decade . The retail giant has repeatedly drive back their effort .
“ [ Amazon ] keeps claim what a keen , gauze-like employer you are . But basic rights are withheld from employee and daily life at Amazon consists of rushing and extreme pressure , ” a representative for Ver.di , Orhan Arkman , toldForbes .
In its statement to Gizmodo , Amazon flatly rebut any claim from strike worker and conglutination members that its treatment of employees is anything less than creditable .
“ The verity is that Amazon already offers industry - lead pay , comprehensive benefits , as well as a secure , forward-looking workings environment . These radical are conjuring misinformation to work in their favor , when in fact we already offer the thing they claim to be fight down for , ” a spokesperson say .
However , company text file recentlyleaked to Gizmododetail similarly harsh condition in one of Amazon ’s stateside distribution midpoint too . Injury rates at the company ’s Staten Island fulfilment center are over three times the industry ’s norm allot to internal records . Earlier this twelvemonth , Amazon employee at Amazon ’s Shakopee , Minnesota locationplanned a strikeprotesting relate grievances for Prime Day , the company ’s profitable and entirely arbitrary holiday . And in 2018 , landed Amazon ’s warehouses on the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health ’s “ contaminating dozen ” inclination of the most unsafe places to act in America .
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