Noëllie Inard
On Monday, November 28th, Amazon workers gathered to protest outside of the Amazon factory in Joliet, Illinois. The protest started at 3 AM on Monday, which was Cyber Monday, a marketing term for e-commercial transactions on the Monday after Thanksgiving to encourage people to shop online. This protest is the second one in less than two months and workers are still asking for better work conditions. Indeed, they want a safer workplace as well as a pay increase. The worker chose Cyber Monday to protest as a way to amplify their intentions since, according to them, Amazon could lose millions of dollars by being shut down during Cyber Monday. One of the Amazon workers told CBS 2, an American news channel, that “This is one of the most ramped up days of the year, one of the most profitable, it's basically making sure everyone knows this is just a first fight that will help us in the long run.”
Last May, racist death threats were found in the bathroom of the facility, however, according to the workers, management didn’t do anything about it, compromising the safety of the workers. Nevertheless, workers in Joliet are not the only ones to protest during this busy weekend with Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Indeed, according to ABC 7 Chicago, a news television station based in Chicago, thousands of workers are planning to protest over low pay and bad working conditions in more than 40 countries. Those countries include Germany, France, India, Japan, South Africa and Australia. Moreover, some of the protests around the world also have the goal to expose Amazon’s impact on the environment and social footprint with the slogan “Make Amazon Pay.” Amazon didn’t yet pronounce itself on what is happening in their Joliet facility or their loss of money.
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