Labour Research December 2023

News

Make Amazon pay: Black Friday action

More than 1,000 workers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse were set to take a 28th day of strike action last month in their dispute over low pay, joining the “biggest ever” global walkout at the online retail giant.

The GMB general union said Black Friday, on 24 November, would see the largest day of industrial disruption in Amazon’s 30-year history, with strikes due to take place across the world, including in Europe and the USA.

GMB organiser Amanda Gearing said the day would be an "unprecedented and historic moment".

At the end of October, the first-ever Make Amazon Pay summit in Manchester saw unions, politicians and other groups delve into the company’s “systematic violations of internationally recognised workers’ rights, its poor environmental record, its anti-competitive behaviour and its tax minimisation schemes”.