WORKERS’ PROTESTS FOR wage increases, job security and protection on workplaces are erupting across the globe, amid reports of Covid-19 outbreaks in factories and businesses allowed to operate during the pandemic.

In the US, workers from Amazon, Wholefoods and Instacart protested last March to demand that they be given just wages, additional hazard pay and per­so­nal pro­tective equip­ment. Amazon and Instacart are retail companies which deliver products straight to its customers’ homes and offices. Wholefoods, also owned by Amazon, is a large grocery store. They have been deemed essential businesses and thus authorized to operate amid the pandemic. Thousands more of American have carried out collective actions to demand necessary protection after news on Covid-19 deaths among workers circulated.

There have also been protests in Amazon warehouses in Italy and US-owned companies in Mexico. In Brazil, doctors and nurses went on strike to demand protective gears. Workers mounted similar protests in India, Burma and Australia.