Amazon workers in more than 30 countries launched coordinated strikes and protests on Black Friday, kicking off the sixth annual “Make Amazon Pay” campaign with what organizers say is the movement’s largest mobilization to date.
The wave of walkouts, rallies, and demonstrations runs through December 1, spanning warehouses, data centers, offices, and public spaces worldwide. UNI Global Union, which represents millions of service sector workers worldwide, and Progressive International, a global network of labor and activist organizations, are organizing the protests.
Organizers say the actions reflect mounting frustration over everything from heat-related warehouse injuries and aggressive productivity pressure to Amazon’s booming AI and cloud operations, rising climate impact, and its work with immigration and law-enforcement agencies.
“Amazon, Jeff Bezos, and their political allies are betting on a techno-authoritarian future, but this Make Amazon Pay Day, workers everywhere are saying: enough,” said Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union, in a statement. “For years, Amazon has squashed workers’ right to democracy on the job through a union and the backing of authoritarian political figures.”
An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement, “The fact is at Amazon we provide great pay, great benefits, and great opportunities—all from day one. We directly employ more than 1.5 million people around the world, and provide a modern, safe, and engaging workplace whether you work in an office or at one of our operations buildings.”
Amazon workers in India demand labor protections
This year, thousands of workers are rallying in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and more than 20 other Indian cities, demanding fair wages, safe conditions, and protection from extreme heat.
A UNI Global Union survey of 474 Amazon warehouse and delivery workers in India, conducted between June and July, illustrated labor concerns driving this year’s actions. Three-quarters of respondents said they or a coworker required medical attention due to heat exposure. More than half reported “extremely hot and unsafe” or “unbearable” working conditions.
The findings come one year after India’s Human Rights Commission called for an investigation into labor practices at an Amazon facility near New Delhi, where workers were reportedly discouraged from taking water breaks during a severe heat wave. Amazon workers in India also held protests over this last year.
“No worker should be forced to risk their health — or their life — for Amazon’s bottom line,” Hoffman said. “Heat protections must be enforceable, and workers themselves must have a say in setting the standards.”
Protesters criticize Amazon’s environmental impact and ICE ties
Over 1,000 Amazon corporate employees published an open letter criticizing the company’s rollout of artificial intelligence. The letter argues that Amazon is abandoning its climate commitments to fund AI infrastructure, citing a $150 billion investment in new data centers despite the company’s pledge to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
The employees demanded that Amazon power all data centers with renewable energy, establish worker committees with authority over AI deployment decisions, and refuse to provide AI technology for what they describe as “violence, surveillance, or mass deportation.”
The expanded agenda of “Make Amazon Pay” this year emphasizes what organizers call a “techno-authoritarian future” — the convergence of Big Tech companies with authoritarian political forces. The coalition said that Amazon funded Trump’s inauguration and that the company’s recent filings show it paid $1.4 billion less in taxes.
Outside of Amazon, organizers planned protests across multiple US cities, including Chicago, Newark, New York, Oakland, San Bernardino, and Washington, D.C. Demonstrators are focusing on Amazon’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demanding the company stop providing infrastructure they say powers the agency’s deportation operations.
“Amazon is no longer just a retailer — it is a pillar of a new authoritarian order built on surveillance and exploitation,” David Adler, co-general coordinator of the Progressive International, said in a statement. “From ICE raids to the repression of Palestinians, Amazon’s technologies are woven into systems of violence worldwide.”
Amazon workers call for unionization efforts
In Germany, the services union Verdi coordinated work stoppages at nine logistics facilities, Reuters reported. About 3,000 workers participated, according to the union, which continues to seek a collective bargaining agreement.
Amazon maintains about 40,000 employees at German logistics centers, plus 12,000 additional seasonal hires for the holiday rush. The company told Reuters the walkouts would not affect customer deliveries and that its compensation is competitive.
Additional protests took place in Canada, where CSN, a major trade union, and CTI, an advocate for immigrant workers, held a demonstration in downtown Montreal, calling for a boycott of Amazon.
The protest followed Amazon’s closure of several Quebec distribution centers that resulted in 4,500 job losses, CityNews Montreal reported. Union leaders accused Amazon of retaliating against workers’ unionization efforts, with one organizer noting the timing between the unionization of a warehouse and Amazon’s decision to close facilities in the region.
Other actions occurred in Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Nepal, Brazil, Bangladesh, Colombia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Poland, Greece, the UK, South Africa, and Gaza.
Amazon workers achieved some union victories in 2025. A warehouse in Delta, British Columbia, has become the first Canadian Amazon facility to gain union representation after labor officials ruled that the company improperly interfered with the organizing campaign. Amazon is contesting the ruling.
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