Japanese delivery drivers to join solidarity protest against Amazon

The Japan Community Union Federation will hold a protest rally in Tokyo on Nov. 25 demanding that Amazon.com provide better pay and shorter hours for delivery drivers in Japan who say their current working conditions.

The federation supports unions of drivers who deliver parcels ordered through Amazon, who say that working conditions are cruel and dangerous.

The demonstration in front of the main office of Amazon’s Japanese arm in Tokyo will coincide with Black Friday discount sales offered globally in a show of solidarity with others working for the e-commerce giant.

Takeshi Suzuki, head of the federation, said that some drivers said they have no time to even go to a toilet to relieve themselves because they have so many packages to deliver.

Suzuki added that 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.

Most of the drivers who deliver Amazon packages in Japan work as sole proprietors under contracts signed with commissioned shipping companies.