A protest rally in Tokyo on November 25 will demand Amazon.com provide better pay and shorter hours for delivery drivers in Japan who claim their current working conditions are cruel and dangerous.
The demonstration in front of Amazon's Japanese arm in the capital will coincide with Black Friday discount sales offered around the world in a show of solidarity with others working for the e-commerce giant.
The Japan Community Union Federation, an umbrella organization that supports drivers who deliver parcels ordered through Amazon, announced on November 22 a planned demonstration at a news conference in Tokyo.
Members of the federation and trade unions representing delivery drivers will join the protest.
At the news conference, Takeshi Suzuki, head of the federation, said that grueling hours have been rampant among drivers delivering Amazon packages.
We have received a lot of complaints. He said drivers said they have no time to go to a toilet to relieve themselves because they have so many packages to deliver. They are worried that if things are the way they are now, they may cause an accident. Suzuki said the federation wants to protect people's right to work by collaborating with others beyond Japan's borders, referring to Amazon's recent move in the United States to lay off people in white-collar positions.
Black Friday deals began in the United States and caused crowds of bargain-hunters to race for products and even fight each other at stores.
Online retailers, such as Amazon, are now offering Black Friday deals.
Most of the drivers who deliver Amazon packages in Japan work as sole proprietors under contracts signed with commissioned shipping companies.
Deliverers in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture and Nagasaki in Kyushu formed labor unions earlier this year to demand better working conditions from Amazon and shipping companies.
They said they are Amazon workers because their work is managed by an app provided by the retailer.
The federation will set up a hotline on November 24 to listen to the grievances of Amazon drivers between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.