© RTL
On Black Friday, representatives from NGOs, trade unions, and politicians protested against Amazon worldwide – Luxembourg included.
Under the slogan "Make Amazon Pay," the protests call for the company to change its approach to taxes, environmental issues, and workers' rights.
The turnout was modest, with around 30 people present at midday on the Grand Rue. The expectations were low, but they still wanted to show solidarity, explained Magali Paulus from Cell.
Amazon pushes its employees to their physical and mental limits, even though the company’s profits tripled at the beginning of 2024.
Julian Bernstein, from Etika, explains that the fact that Amazon has its headquarters here in Luxembourg is no coincidence; this allows the corporation to avoid taxes through a whole network of companies.
Recently, a legal dispute with the European Commission was settled, stating that Luxembourg did not grant Amazon any illegal tax advantages. In 2017, the Commission had determined that nearly three-quarters of the profits were not taxed and subsequently urged Luxembourg to reclaim 250 million euros plus interest from the corporation.
However, that is now off the table.
In addition to social and tax justice, Amazon must also take responsibility for environmental issues: the impact of goods transportation and electricity consumption is enormous, with the majority of the electricity coming from non-renewable sources.
Report in Luxembourgish:
