The Christmas season is not being calm for two American multinationals that have seen part of their workforce go on strike to demand an improvement in their working conditions during days where consumption skyrockets. Amazon and Starbucks workers have launched strikes in the United States and thus show a discontent that is in line with what has already happened in recent months in other business giants, such as Boeing, where protests forced production to stop. of their planes.
The cases of Amazon and Starbucks are different, but they have many links in common. Regarding the coffee shop chain, one of the unions that represents its workers, Workers United, has called for the mobilization of employees of more than 500 establishments to demand improvements in wages, working conditions and schedules, after months of negotiation with the company that has not borne fruit.
The protest began last week in some cities, but has spread over days that mark the consumption peaks of the entire year. At first, it was planned in cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago or Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered, but over the last few days it has been expanded to other locations, such as Denver or New York.
Workers United, which represents nearly 10,000 workers in the United States, emphasizes, above all, the wage situation, which has led 98% of the employees it represents to support the strikes. The union gives as an example a worker who earns $16.5 per hour worked. He assures that with the salary improvement offer that Starbucks has proposed, of 2.5% for next year, his compensation would increase by $0.40 per hour. “That’s nothing, it’s equivalent to one Starbucks drink a week,” ironizes the union.
For its part, the company affirms that the proposal demanded by this union would mean a salary increase of between 64% and 77% over three years, according to the information published by the agency. Reuters. “That would be unsustainable,” justifies the multinational. In addition, Workers United assures that it has filed dozens of complaints with the body that supervises labor relations in the United States (National Labor Relations Board), among other reasons, for dismissing workers who joined the union representation or for failing to comply with working hours. .
The strikes have been a blow to Starbucks, which in August changed its leadership and appointed Brian Niccol, who had headed the Mexican food chain Chipotle, as CEO. Their mission, to reverse the financial situation of the multinational, which has accumulated several quarters with drops in income. Between July and September, the last period for which it has presented results, the company’s sales in stores open for more than a year – which indicate the comparable evolution of the business – were cut by 7% compared to 2023. However, In the United States the drop was 10% and in China, 14%.
“Sit down to negotiate”
Amazon delivery workers who are unionized through Teamsters are also demanding negotiations to improve their working conditions. This union represents nearly 10,000 employees of the online commerce giant in cities such as New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, as well as Southern California.
Once again, they put pressure during the Christmas campaign because it is the time to make themselves heard, due to the peaks in purchases, to demand a salary increase. “If your shipment is delayed” during these weeks “you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave him a clear deadline to come to the table and do what was right for the workers we represent. “They ignored it,” he justified. Teamsters representative Sean M. O’Brien.
On the other hand, Amazon defines this strike more as a protest than a strike, according to EFE. He also states, according to this agency, that people outside the company have been present in the mobilizations of recent days and that employees have been pressured to join the mobilization, to which, he points out, only 10,000 of them were called. 800,000 people who work for Amazon in the United States.
The protests of recent weeks are not isolated. The final stretch of 2024 has been marked by labor mobilizations in several business giants. One of those that has made the most noise has been that of Boeing, because the cessation of aircraft production after stopping nearly 30,000 workers has led the multinational to skyrocket its red numbers to over 7,000 million dollars.
There are not only strikes in the United States. In Europe, companies like Volkswagen have spent months of tug-of-war and negotiations with the workforce. In the case of the automobile group, they have reached an agreement in recent days to seal 35,000 casualties in Germany before 2030, in a “socially responsible” manner, as agreed with the powerful IG Metall union. In this case, the multinational has also committed to not closing factories and to reduce the bonuses of its highest management.
The strikes and protests have also reached companies unaccustomed to labor conflict, such as the French luxury giant Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH). In this case, those who have stopped are the Hennessy employees due to the company’s intention to take part of the cognac production to China and thus avoid the tariffs that the Asian giant has imposed on this drink.
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