Trade Unions protested in front of Amazon’s Manchester headquarters on Black Friday as a part of their ‘Make Amazon Pay’ campaign.
The campaign consists of 150 strikes across 35 countries to ask for a pay increase of £1.50 an hour.
The protest in Manchester was made up of warehouse workers and supporting trade unions who picketed outside Amazon’s city centre headquarters.
Elvis Black a former Amazon worker and member of Just Stop Oil said: “It’s all about making Amazon pay.
“Making them pay their workers properly, and making them pay the proper amount of tax.”
Amazon had offered workers an increase from £12.30 to £13.00 an hour, but workers rejected this and asked for £15.00 an hour.
Following the failure of negotiations, several unions including the Trade Union Congress and GMB organised a conference in Manchester.
US Senator Bernie Sanders was in attendance at the conference on October 27, where he confirmed the worldwide strike on Black Friday.
He said: “No company is a better poster child for the corporate greed and arrogance that we are seeing in the US, the UK and throughout the world than Amazon.”
At Amazon’s main UK warehouse in Coventry, workers organised four days of strikes to affect the multinational e-commerce company’s Black Friday sales.
An Amazon spokesperson said: “We offer competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, opportunities for career growth, all while working in a safe, modern, work environment.
“At Amazon, these benefits and opportunities come with the job, as does the ability to communicate directly with the leadership of the company.
“We respect our employees’ rights to join, or not to join, a union.”
