Amazon's Black Friday: Several Indian trade unions to join protests

The campaign is being coordinated by an international coalition of trade unions, with the support of environmental and civil society groups

Several Indian traders, hawkers, as well as transport and gig workers’ unions will join a global campaign by Make Amazon Pay coalition happening across close to 40 countries on Black Friday to protest alleged exploitative practices by the tech giant.

Employees in the US, the UK, India, Japan, Australia, South Africa and across Europe are demanding better wages and working conditions as the cost-of-living crisis deepens, as part of the campaign.

Trade unions, including Bharatiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal, Hawkers’ Joint Action Committee, Gig Workers’ Association, and All India People Science Network, will join the campaign.

The main demands include minimum wages of at least ₹25,000, reducing minimum working hours, fixed-term contracts, and better working conditions, sources said. 

“Amazon has become a global giant exercising a completely new model of exploitation. It is a prototype and the main sign of a new kind of global corporation, which remotely controls all activities of a sector. It becomes a new paradigm of granular control, which creates exploitative conditions for workers and traders,” said Parminder Jeet Singh, executive director at IT for Change, which will take part in the protest in New Delhi. Protests will take place in 23 cities, Singh said.