On Cyber Monday November 27th 2023 5PM, at the end of the the busiest shopping weekend of the year, members of Extinction Rebellion Ireland and Not Here Not Anywhere gathered at Amazon's Dublin office at 2 Burlington Road to protest their practices of climate destruction, worker abuses and tax dodging. The protest was held as part of an international action across the Black Friday weekend from the Make Amazon Pay campaign.
Activists held a giant cheque to represent that the company owes ireland "Damages for Abuse of Workers, Environmental Destruction, Tax Dodging and Neo Colonialism"
As the sun set, large graphics including the messages "Make Amazon Pay", "More Data Centres = More Blackouts", "€43.8 Billion in Profit, €0 in tax" and "Inhumane Working Conditions, Union Busting Tactics" were projected onto the walls of the building. A similar action was carried out on the company's German Headquarters in Berlin on Black Friday last year.
Today and through the weekend and Monday, Amazon faces strikes and protests in over 30 countries around the world in a massive day of action coordinated by the Make Amazon Pay campaign. These include:
More than 200 workers with the GMB union were striking on Friday at Amazon's warehouse in Coventry in England as part of a long-running dispute over pay.
In Germany, Amazon's second-biggest market by sales last year, workers at five fulfilment centres in Bad Hersfeld, Dortmund, Koblenz, Leipzig and Rheinberg started a 24-hour strike at midnight on Friday to demand a collective wage agreement, trade union Verdi said.
Italian trade union CGIL called for a Black Friday strike at the Castel San Giovanni warehouse, while Spanish union CCOO called for Amazon warehouse and delivery workers to stage a one-hour strike on each shift on "Cyber Monday", the last day of Amazon's ten-day sale.
Climate protests in at least seven countries - Japan, Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom and Canada - at Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities to call out Amazon’s greenwashing, its data centres' growing climate impact and electricity consumption, and AWS contracts with fossil fuels companies.
Thousands of workers rallying and protesting in more than ten Indian cities.
Bangladeshi Garment workers taking mass action in Dhaka to demand a minimum wage of $209 per month, an end to police harassment, which has seen trade unionists killed, and demand that Amazon signs up to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety.
This is the fourth year that Make Amazon Pay has organised a global day of action on Black Friday. In previous years, thousands of workers went on strike at facilities throughout Germany, France, Spain, the UK and Italy, garment workers’ took to the streets in Bangladesh, workers in the US organised walkouts, civil society allies held demonstrations projecting the Make Amazon Pay logo at Amazon headquarters all over the world, projecting “pandemic profiteer” onto Jeff Bezos mansion, and climate activists blockaded Amazon warehouses in three European countries.
Co-convened by UNI Global Union and the Progressive International, Make Amazon Pay brings together over 80 unions, civil society organisations, environmentalists and tax watchdogs including UNI Global Union, the Progressive International, Greenpeace, 350.org, Tax Justice Network and Amazon Workers International. The campaign is united behind a set of common demands that Amazon pays its workers fairly and respects their right to join unions, pays its fair share of taxes and commits to real environmental sustainability.
At the Dublin protest:
Emilio Maira Santos a Unite Union organiser and former Amazon employee said:
"Amazon's company model is built on imperialism and the destruction of nature. We've seen how they sent money to Israel supporting their settler and ethnic cleansing plans, while at the same time they destroyed products as if our planet had no limits. From the worker's movement, we offer international solidarity and the alternative for a democratically controlled planned economy that respects the limits of nature."
A representative of Extinction Rebellion Ireland said:
"We condemn Amazon's mistreatment of workers in warehouses in Ireland and worldwide and throughout their supply chain. While ordinary people are struggling to pay energy bills and heat their homes here, Amazon recently got permission to build 3 new data centres in Dublin, adding to the strain the data economy places on the grid and prolonging the use of fossil fuels. They operate here to take advantage of tax loopholes and use vast amounts of our energy and water supply, which we see as a new form of colonialism. The current expansion of data centres and big tech in Ireland is incompatible with a Just Transition away from fossil fuels and incompatible with a livable future."
A representative of Not Here Not Anywhere (NHNA) said:
“It is obscene that Amazon are looking for planning permission for three more energy hungry data centres in Dublin, despite the Commission for Regulation of Utilities deeming this a constrained region that cannot handle any more. This rapid expansion of data centres is untenable and if Amazon builds all of their planned centres they would consume a whopping 4.4 per cent of the State’s electricity supply. That’s why Not Here Not Anywhere have been calling on the government to “Press Pause” on new Data Centres until common sense policy is enacted to regulate them. The people of Ireland shouldn’t be forced to bear the brunt of these low-employment, modern day landfills through higher electricity bills, fossil fuel lock-in and potential blackouts.”
This week:
Senator Lynn Boylan and participant in the Summit to Make Amazon Pay said.
"Amazon is failing our planet. At its current rate, Amazon won't reach its stated 2040 net zero target until 2378," "In my country, Ireland, Amazon’s hunger for relentless expansion will contribute to us exceeding our carbon budget with plans for three new data centres, whose insatiable demand for electricity drives up demand for gas. The unbridled expansion of data centres has raised alarms, with EirGrid warning of grid instability and the risk of rolling blackouts. Across the world, Amazon Web Services is deeply involved in different phases of oil production, focusing on pipelines, shipping, and storage for oil and gas companies. It's time to Make Amazon Pay for its environmental damage."
Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, co-General Coordinator of the Progressive International, said:
"From the warehouses in Coventry to the factories of Dhaka, this Global Day of Action is more than a protest. It is a worldwide declaration that this age of abuse must end. Amazon's globe-spanning empire, which exploits workers, our communities and our planet, now faces a growing globe-spanning movement to Make Amazon Pay."
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