Thousands of Amazon staff members across Europe were protesting on Black Friday over the way the company treats its warehouse workers.
A coalition of unions across Europe coordinated the action, and the British trade union GMB published a video of workers telling Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos "we are not robots" in five different languages.
—GMB UNION (@GMB_union) November 22, 2018
—tony warr (@twgmb) November 23, 2018
A GMB spokesman told Business Insider on Thursday that the purpose of the UK protests was not to disrupt Amazon's Black Friday sales but to raise awareness. "All we want is to get Amazon around the table," he said.
In a press release sent to Business Insider, the GMB said it was protesting "inhuman conditions" at the warehouses. It cited figures from a Freedom of Information request showing a single Amazon warehouse in Britain had called ambulances to the site 115 times over a three-year period.
The protests garnered support from UK politicians. Tom Watson, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, tweeted a video calling for Amazon UK management to come to the table. The Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn also voiced his support for the protest.
"Your employees need better conditions and better recognition," Watson said.
—Tom Watson (@tom_watson) November 22, 2018
An Amazon spokeswoman told Business Insider in a statement regarding the protests in the UK:
"We were fully operational today as our associates focused on delivering for our customers. Any reports to the contrary are simply wrong. We respect the rights of groups and individuals to have their voice, but for us it was business as usual inside our Fulfillment Centres."
Ruqayyah Moynihan, INSIDER's Associate Translation Editor, also contributed to this report.
Do you work at Amazon? Got a tip? Contact this reporter via email at ihamilton@jkmperu.com. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.
