Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) workers went out on strike at multiple locations across Europe on Friday as protests against the e-commerce giant's working practices accelerated on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, Reuters reported.
"Make Amazon Pay", a strike and protest campaign coordinated by the UNI Global Union, will take place in more than 30 countries from Friday through to Monday, the union stated.
In Germany, Amazon's second-biggest market by sales last year, trade union Verdi said about 250 workers were on strike at an Amazon warehouse in Leipzig on Friday, about 20% of the workforce, and nearly 40% of workers went on strike at a warehouse in Rheinberg.
Black Friday, the day after the US Thanksgiving holiday when many retailers cut prices to boost sales, has increasingly moved online and has gone global.
Amazon has contributed greatly to the Black Friday hoopla by advertising 10 days of holiday discounts this year from November 17 to November 27.
In France, anti-globalization organization Attac, which calls Black Friday a "celebration of overproduction and overconsumption," said it expects its planned protest to be wider than last year.
Amazon's app had 146 million active users in Europe in October, compared to 64 million for rivals Shein and 51 million for Temu, according to data.ai.
Shares of Amazon.com edged 0.7% lower to $145.75 in mid-morning trading on Friday.
Contact Sean at sean@proactiveinvestors.com