Picture this: It’s dark, around 5 a.m., and most of the town is still sleeping off last night’s overstuffed turkey. Meanwhile, you’re wiping down the register, counting bills and loading the cash drawer. In 30 minutes, the doors will open, unleashing the frenzy of Black Friday shopping. You brace yourself for a day of frantic questions, overflowing carts and the occasional heated arguments over sold-out items.
Black Friday is one of the busiest retail events in America. With the average American spending an estimated $480 during this annual shopping holiday, and this year’s online sales projected to surpass $10 billion, one might ask: Who is working this holiday to ensure that 139 million shoppers get their orders fulfilled?
Time and again, the stories we encounter, both in the news and in real life, show that Black Friday workers are often young, Black, Brown, immigrant, or from some other marginalized group. We know this because BIPOC workers are usually on the frontlines of nearly every service industry — from fast food and delivery to small businesses and retail. In recent years, reporting from URL Media partners has highlighted how these workers are not only enduring harsh conditions on the job, but also leading collective actions in their workplaces (think: strikes and massive walkouts) to advocate for unions, fair wages and workers’ rights.
So what can you do to support frontline workers this Black Friday? Start by learning about their stories and struggles. Honor their contributions and, most importantly, support businesses that promote fair practices. Remember to be kind and respectful of the workers you encounter. This holiday season, we also encourage you to go beyond fast fashion and support businesses that prioritize fair practices, focusing on people, the planet, and animals — and while you’re at it, shop Black.
Plus: 2024 Holiday Gift Guide (Baltimore Beat)
Over the years, headlines about employee strikes have emerged from household-name companies like Amazon — which reportedly processed one billion items during last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend — as well as lesser known businesses like the Brooklyn-based United Metro oil company. As reported by Documented, immigrant workers at United Metro went on strike for three consecutive years to demand higher wages and affordable healthcare coverage. Despite voting to join a union in 2018, their employer resisted negotiating a fair contract for years.
“It’s been really, really tough not just for us, but on all of our families,” a United Metro employee told the outlet.
These workers were deemed essential during the early days of the pandemic as they provided gasoline, diesel, and heating oil to schools, hospitals, and mass transit systems across the metropolitan area — all while lacking proper COVID-19 protections.
“We are in vulnerable categories, and [John] Catsimatidis [billionaire owner of United Metro] is taking advantage of us because, as immigrants, we have to work, and we don’t have the option of doing other things.”
Stories like these persist.
Just two weeks before this Black Friday, Documented shared that about 50 delivery workers with the Workers Justice Project protested outside DoorDash’s Manhattan headquarters, claiming the company owed them thousands of dollars in unpaid wages. One long-time DoorDash worker, whose profile has been deactivated from the platform, said the company owes him $1,500.
“Delivery work is one of the most dangerous occupations in the city,” he said. “In addition to risking our lives, we shouldn’t have to worry about being robbed by such a wealthy company. We deserve to be paid for the service we provide,” he told the outlet.
Plus: San Francisco workers reflect on Trump’s re-election: ‘The rich sit and forget, the poor stay the same’ (El Tecolote)
The fight for fairness is also spilling over into other industries. Posted over a month ago on the tech review blog Phone Arena, employees at T-Mobile are planning a massive walkout in response to the company’s recent decision to slash promotions for veterans, first responders and customers aged 55 and above. The post alleges that the reduced trade-in discounts were “introduced as a token of appreciation to the members of the society who dedicate their lives to serving others.” According to the blog, which sources from Reddit, the employees demand a reversal or say they will proceed with a walkout at 11 a.m. PT on Black Friday.
“An employee walkout on a day T-Mobile offers aggressive discounts to boost sales could severely disrupt operations.”
In a 2018 Guardian story on workers enduring long hours, poor pay and “anxiety through the roof” on Black Friday, the annual shopping event shows how profits often take precedence over people’s mental health.
“It’s really stressful. It’s chaos everywhere. Having to keep up with the pace management expects you to work at, dealing with the mess and the customers, my anxiety is through the roof,” said Noemi Castro, a K-Mart employee in Los Angeles, California, who was working the morning shift on Black Friday that year.
