‘Make Amazon Pay’ strikes and protests: In Germany, workers from around the world demand dignity and respect

This Black Friday, Amazon workers from the U.S., U.K., France, Italy and Nepal will join picket lines set up by their German colleagues in Bad Hersfeld to hold Amazon accountable for labour abuses, environmental degradation and threats to democracy.

Black Friday is traditionally one of the largest shopping weekends of the year, and thousands of workers across Germany will walk off the job at key warehouse locations, including Bad Hersfeld, Graben, Dortmund Werne, Leipzig, Koblenz, and Rheinberg.

In Bad Hersfeld, a focal point of this year’s global actions, workers and speakers from Germany and other countries will gather to demand justice, dignity and respect for their rights. The event will feature contributions from Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union; Silke Zimmer, member of the ver.di Federal Executive Board responsible for trade; and workers from Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and beyond. This protest underscores Germany’s leadership in holding Amazon accountable for its anti-worker and anti-democratic practices.

“No matter how much they spend to fight us, corporations like Amazon cannot break the power of workers standing together. In Germany, ver.di has led the charge for over a decade, demanding collective bargaining rights—a fight that resonates across the globe. From India to the United States, the U.K. to Canada, workers are rising against exploitation and corporate intimidation. Make Amazon Pay Day is a powerful testament to our unity and momentum. No company—no  matter how wealthy—can silence the cause of workers demanding justice,” said Christy Hoffman, UNI Global Union’s General Secretary. 

✊🏿#MakeAmazonPay Day begins! Amazon workers in Jantar Mantar, Delhi 🇮🇳 rally to demand minimum pay, decent working conditions & recognition of Amazon workers union @AiwaInd pic.twitter.com/rBUKd7DV9Z

— UNI Global Union (@uniglobalunion) November 29, 2024

A Unified Global Resistance Against Amazon

The strikes and protests in Germany are part of a broader global wave of resistance under the banner of ‘Make Amazon Pay’, spearheaded by UNI Global Union and Progressive International. From 29 November to 2 December, workers and allies on six continents will mobilize in over 30 countries against Amazon’s labour abuses, environmental harm and threats to democracy.

Germany’s strikes will coincide with key demonstrations worldwide:

• France: Attac (The Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and Citizen’s Action) will lead action across more than 30 cities.
• India: Hundreds of Amazon workers in New Delhi will rally against unsafe working conditions, especially following last summer’s extreme heatwave.
• Bangladesh: Garment workers will take to the streets, demanding fair treatment from Amazon-linked suppliers.

This is the fifth year of Make Amazon Pay actions, which begin on Black Friday—also known as Make Amazon Pay Day—and continue throughout the weekend. Over the years, the campaign has grown into a powerful global movement uniting workers, unions, tax justice activists, booksellers, Indigenous groups and many more organizations to challenge Amazon’s exploitative practices.

Amazon’s Global Abuses Under Fire

Despite Amazon’s aggressive tactics, workers and allies are pushing back. Germany’s ver.di union has led a decade-long campaign urging Amazon to comply with collective bargaining agreements, while global campaigns have strengthened the movement for fair treatment and accountability.

“Amazon is everywhere, but so are we. By uniting across borders, we can force Amazon to change its ways and lay the foundations for a world that prioritizes human dignity, not Jeff Bezos’ bank balance,” said Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, Co-General Coordinator of Progressive International.

Actions around the world:

• In Bad Hersfeld, Germany, striking Amazon workers will hold a march and rally with workers from other facilities in Germany, workers from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, as well as union and political leaders, as workers in nine warehouses across the country will strike the same day.
• Amazon drivers at the company’s DGT8 facility in Atlanta joined the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and demanded union recognition with a “March on the Boss” held on Wednesday. Atlanta drivers are building on what is a massive organizing wave within Amazon, joining hundreds of drivers from Illinois, New York, and California in forming a union with the Teamsters to take on the e-commerce giant.
•  In Italy, Amazon workers will go on strike as part of the country’s general strike.
• Across twelve cities in India, Amazon workers and their recently formed Amazon Workers India Union (AIWU) will hold rallies demanding fair wages, better working conditions, and job security, with a central protest in New Delhi and street vendors taking actions on markets across all of India.
• In Onda, Spain, 500 workers will go on strike for better pay, starting on Black Friday, with the possibility of extending the strike throughout the weekend until Cyber Monday.
• In Tokyo, Japan, activists will protest the exploitation of drivers in front of Amazon’s HQ.
• In three cities in South Africa, activists and Indigenous leaders will protest Amazon’s desecration of Indigenous land in South Africa.
• In London, United Kingdom, workers and activists will protest at Amazon’s HQ to take a stand against Amazon’s abuse of its workers, its tax dodging, its destruction of our environment and powering of the Israeli war machine.
• In Istanbul, Turkey, trade unionists will protest in front of Amazon’s office.
• In Luxembourg, a coalition of unions, tax justice and environmental organisations will organize a public protest on a central square to call out Amazon’s tax avoidance.
• In France, activist group ATTAC France will take actions in more than 30 cities across France challenging Amazon’s tax dodging. 
• In eight cities across Bangladesh, garment workers in Amazon’s supply chain will take to the streets.
• In Bogota, Colombia, trade unionists will protest at an Amazon call centre.
• Brick-and-mortars booksellers internationally will call out Amazon’s anti-competitive behavior.

Amazon India Workers Union takes action on Make Amazon Pay Day, 2024

About Make Amazon Pay

Launched on Black Friday in 2020, Make Amazon Pay is a global campaign co-convened by UNI Global Union and Progressive International. It unites over 80 unions, environmental organizations, and civil society groups to demand that Amazon pay its workers fairly, respect union rights, pay its fair share of taxes, and commit to real environmental sustainability.