Amazon faces black Friday protests in 40 countries

Thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across about 40 countries plan to conduct protests and walkouts demanding better wages and working conditions. "Make Amazon Pay," is the name of the campaign. he Black Friday protests by Amazon warehouse workers are being coordinated by an international coalition of trade unions with the support of environmental and civil society groups. Employees in the US, UK, India, Japan, Australia, South Africa and across Europe are demanding better wages and working conditions as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, "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." Black Friday is a big day for Amazon. In the last two years, the e-commerce giant captured the majority of Black Friday sales.This year, it's going to be slightly different. Amazon isn't having the best of 2022 so far. The company is in cost-cutting mode and reportedly plans for fire 10,000 employees.