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   From: zinn@reno.us   
      
   Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across about 40 countries plan to   
   take part in protests and walkouts to coincide with Black Friday sales,   
   one of the busiest days of the year for online shopping.   
      
   Employees in the U.S., UK, India, Japan, Australia, South Africa and   
   across Europe are demanding better wages and working conditions as the   
   cost-of-living crisis deepens, in a campaign dubbed “Make Amazon Pay.” The   
   campaign is being coordinated by an international coalition of trade   
   unions, with the support of environmental and civil society groups.   
      
   “It’s time for the tech giant to cease their awful, unsafe practices   
   immediately, respect the law and negotiate with the workers who want to   
   make their jobs better,” said Christy Hoffman, general secretary for UNI   
   Global Union, one of the campaign’s organizers.   
      
   Tension with workers has been a long-running issue at the e-commerce   
   giant, which has faced complaints of unfair labor practices as well as   
   employee activism and union drives at some facilities. In what was seen as   
   a watershed moment, workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York,   
   voted earlier this year to join an upstart union.   
      
   “While we are not perfect in any area, if you objectively look at what   
   Amazon is doing on these important matters you’ll see that we do take our   
   role and our impact very seriously,” Amazon spokesman David Nieberg said.   
      
   He cited the company’s target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions   
   by 2040 and that it’s “continuing to offer competitive wages and great   
   benefits, and inventing new ways to keep our employees safe and healthy.”   
      
   Unions in France and Germany - CGT and Ver.di - are spearheading the   
   latest collective action, with coordinated strikes in 18 major warehouses,   
   intended to disrupt shipments across key European markets.   
      
   Monika di Silvestre, head of Ver.di’s Amazon committee in Germany, said   
   that workers were particularly concerned about the way their productivity   
   was closely monitored by computers, with algorithms determining targets,   
   for example for the number of packages they need to handle per hour.   
      
   “The workers are under a lot of pressure with these algorithms,” she said.   
   “It doesn’t differentiate between workers, whether they are old or have   
   limited mobility. Workers stay awake at night thinking only of their   
   productivity stats.”   
      
   She called on European politicians to strengthen labor rights across the   
   bloc. “We don’t have a right to strike around Europe - on the European   
   level,” she said.   
      
   In the UK, workers associated with GMB union have planned protests outside   
   several warehouses, including Coventry.   
      
   “Amazon workers in Coventry are overworked, underpaid and they’ve had   
   enough,” said Amanda Gearing, a senior GMB organizer, adding that   
   “hundreds” will assemble to demand a wage increase from £10.50 an hour to   
   £15.   
      
   Any workers who walk out during a shift could lose out on the second half   
   of a £500 bonus that Amazon announced for UK warehouse workers last month.   
   The final payment is contingent on staff taking “no unauthorized absence”   
   between Nov. 22 and Dec. 24. The GMB has said linking payments to   
   attendance could be interpreted as unlawful inducement not to strike.   
      
   In the U.S., protests and rallies will take place in more than 10 cities   
   and outside an apartment block on 5th Avenue, New York, where Amazon   
   founder Jeff Bezos has a condo. Multiple rallies are also planned in India   
   while in Japan, members of a recently created union will protest in front   
   of the company’s national headquarters in Tokyo. In Bangladesh, garment   
   workers in Amazon’s supply chain will march in Dhaka and Chittagong.   
      
   Some demonstrations will focus on Amazon’s environmental and social   
   footprint, for example in Ireland where people will gather outside the   
   company’s Dublin offices to push back against two new planned data centers   
   in the city. In South Africa, protesters will gather near Amazon’s new   
   offices in Cape Town, which is being developed on land that indigenous   
   people consider to be sacred.   
      
   Some unions expressed concern about the current economic climate amid a   
   warning from Amazon that its peak Christmas season might not be as busy as   
   usual. The company’s decision to lay off 10,000 staff will also make wage   
   negotiations more challenging.   
      
   Laurent Cretin, a delegate for the CFE-CGC union in France, said the   
   company will have 880 workers in a warehouse in Chalon-sur-Saône this   
   Christmas season, down from 1,000 before covid, which he linked to   
   tightening consumer spending and the transfer of activity to robotized   
   warehouses.   
      
   “The projections are not great, we are not sure we will do as good as last   
   year that saw a post-covid surge,” he said.   
      
      
      
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