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“We’re humans, not robots,” William Stolz, an Amazon warehouse worker in Shakopee, Minnesota, told CNN Business. “They’re treating us like machines.”
Amazon, however, defended its pay and worker policies. A spokesperson said the company offers “industry-leading pay of $15 per hour, benefits, and a safe workplace for our employees.”
The company also fired back at critics: “Events like Prime Day have become an opportunity for our critics, including unions, to raise awareness for their cause,” the spokesperson said. “These groups are conjuring misinformation to work in their favor.”
“While Amazon throws huge discounts to its customers on Prime Day, employees lack a living wage,” said one German union.
Other European Prime Day protests included the United Kingdom, Spain and Poland.
In the United Kingdom, the labor union GMB — which represents Amazon workers — held protests outside Amazon fulfillment centers. “We’re staging protests across Amazon sites up and down the country this Prime Day,” said Mick Rix, a union leader. “The conditions our members work under at Amazon sites across the UK are appalling.”
“The main issue is with the speed of the work and the physical stress and mental stress,” said Stolz, the Shakopee worker who has been with Amazon for two years. “We have an opportunity. If Amazon wants to get your packages out in one to two days, it has to treat its workers with respect.”
Stolz said the employees decided to take action on Prime Day because it will be one of Amazon’s “busiest times of the year.”
Many of the Amazon workers in Shakopee are Muslim immigrants from East Africa, and some of their demands are for prayer spaces, and easing speed and rates during Ramadan when employees are fasting.
The Shakopee workers’ Prime Day protests are part of an ongoing organizing effort at this location. Last year, workers at the warehouse met with Amazon management to press for changes, but claimed their main concerns went unaddressed. In December, workers staged a walkout.
“We just want safe, reliable jobs we’re able to do long term and support our families,” said Stolz.
Shakopee workers are expected to be joined by Amazon workers traveling from the company’s headquarters in Seattle. The tech workers traveling to Minnesota are part of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group that has pressured Amazon to take action on the climate crisis.
Pilots for Amazon Air, the company’s air cargo operation, also said they “stand in solidarity with the warehouse workers” in Shakopee. They are sending a pilot to the Minnesota protest.
“As we know firsthand, Amazon’s business model too often neglects the well-being of the workers who make the e-commerce giant so incredibly successful,” said Daniel Wells, a union leader representing pilots who fly for Amazon Air.
—CNN’s Lydia DePillis and Charles Riley contributed to this article.
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