Thousands of Amazon workers in 20 countries went on strike on November 29, Black Friday, one of the company’s most lucrative sales days due to the discounts it offers. The strike will last until December 2, dubbed as “Cyber Monday.”

Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, the second wealthiest individual in the world. The company is valued at $2.163 trillion and reported a profit of $30.4 billion last year.

Amazon is notorious for its extremely low wages, refusal to regularize workers, unsafe warehouse working conditions, and aggressive suppression of workers’ rights to unionize and demand fair wages and benefits.

The workers are demanding fair wages and benefits, an end to abuses, and the right to unionize. Amazon workers organized strikes in the US, Germany, the UK, Turkey, Canada, India, Japan, Brazil, and other countries under the “Make Amazon Pay” campaign. The strike is a coordinated action involving over 1.5 million workers worldwide.

In the US, workers are pushing for a wage increase to $25 per hour. Prior to this, Amazon was forced to raise the minimum wage to $22 per hour (from $15 per hour in 2018) after continuous protests and campaigns by workers and their supporters. However, this is still insufficient to support a family, the workers said. In the US, the living wage for an individual with no children is set at $21.10 per hour.

In India, Amazon workers earn an average of 10,000 INR (Indian Rupees) per month ($120 or ₱6,960 at an exchange rate of $1=₱58), which is far from sufficient to meet their family’s needs. Workers are calling for an increase to push wages to 25,000 INR per month. Amazon has 20,000 workers in the country.