Amazon Prime Day Becomes a Flash Point for Worker Strikes and Customer Protests
Amazon.com Inc. workers, who have long gone on strike in the run-up to the holidays, have found a new occasion to get their employer's attention: Prime Day.
Nearly 1,800 Amazon workers in Spain went on strike Monday during Prime Day, which has quickly grown into the company's biggest sales day of the year. Thousands of Amazon employees in Germany are expected to walk off the job Tuesday, the second day of the 36-hour sale, for similar reasons. The unions that represent the warehouse workers, Comisiones Obreras and Verdi services union, say they are calling for better working conditions, pay and health benefits.
"The message is clear — while the online giant gets rich, it is saving money on the health of its workers," Verdi spokeswoman Stefanie Nutzenberger said in a statement on the German union's website.
Prime Day, which Amazon created four years ago, has grown rapidly in recent years and now brings in billions of dollars in sales for the company. On Monday, the sale kicked off at noon Pacific time — and almost immediately crashed Amazon's website and mobile app for about 45 minutes. "UH-OH," said a message on the company's app. "Something went wrong on our end." Amazon said it was trying to fix the problem.
The Prime Day computer glitch — which appeared to be the most widespread to date — and worker strikes added up to a spate of bad news for the online giant, which has been heavily promoting its discount event for weeks.