Workers at Amazon sites across dozens of countries in the world including in the United States, Germany and France were urged to strike on Black Friday, targeting the online retailer on one of the busiest shopping days of the year with calls for better pay.
The global strike action for one of the biggest shopping days of the year was called for by the campaign Make Amazon Pay, and it got promoted on Twitter under same hashtag.
The Make Amazon Pay initiative, which made the call for strikes, said industrial action was planned in more than 30 countries.
Germany's Verdi union said work stoppages were planned at 10 fulfillment centers in that country. France's SUD and CGT unions called for strike action in the country's eight warehouses.
It demanded the company recognize collective bargaining agreements for the retail and mail order trade sector and called for a further collective agreement on good working conditions.
"As an employer, Amazon offers great pay, benefits and development opportunities – all in an attractive and safe working environment," a spokesperson for Amazon in Germany said in a statement.
Among other things, the spokesperson pointed to a wage increase for Amazon logistics employees in Germany from September, with the starting wage now at 13 euros ($13.52) per hour or more, including bonus payments.
On Friday morning, the company said the vast majority of its employees in Germany were working as normal, with strike action limited to nine of its 20 German fulfillment centers.
A spokesperson for Amazon France said there had been no sign of disruption to operations so far, although French CGT union members were pictured demonstrating in front of the Amazon logistics center near Paris, as part of a global day of actions against Amazon.
A spokesperson for Amazon in France said that all warehouse employees earning less than 3,100 euros per month would receive a one-time bonus of 500 euros, on top of a 150-euro end-of-year bonus agreed with the union.
"This is the first time that Amazon has had an international strike day," said Monika Di Silvestre, Verdi's representative for Amazon workers.
"This is very important, because a major global corporation like Amazon cannot be confronted locally, regionally or nationally alone," she added.
Similar strikes, however, took place last year on Black Friday across the U.K., U.S., Germany and the Netherlands when dozens of demonstrators from the environmental movement, known as XR, blocked the company's largest U.K. warehouse, in Dunfermline in Scotland.
Hundreds of Amazon staff in U.K.'s General Trade Union (GMB) have also stopped working shortly in August this year in protest of insufficient hour-pay rise.
