The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in the union’s effort to pressure the e-commerce giant to reach a collective bargaining agreement during the critical shopping period. After the announcement, people started picketing in some places. Located in Queens, New York City.
The Teamsters allege that workers who have authorized strikes in the past few days are taking to the sidewalks because Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline set by the union for contract negotiations. Amazon said it does not expect its operations to be affected during what the union is calling the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters represent about 10,000 workers at Amazon’s 10 facilities, a small fraction of the 1.5 million workers Amazon employs in its warehouses and offices. It is said that it is no more than
Amazon ranks No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest companies.
Thousands of workers at a warehouse in New York City’s Staten Island borough voted to unionize with Amazon in 2022 and have since been affiliated with the Teamsters. At other facilities, workers, including many delivery drivers, formed unions with majority support, but did not hold government-sponsored elections.
Thursday’s strike is taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in San Francisco. southern californiaNew York City, Atlanta; Skokie, a suburb of ChicagoIllinois, according to a union statement. Amazon workers at other facilities are also “ready to participate,” the union said.
CBS Pittsburgh reported that local union officials and leaders are picketing outside Amazon facilities in the area;
Kevin Schmidt, president of Local Teamsters 249, said workers at the Empire facility are not unionized, but he and other local union leaders are hitting the picket line in solidarity with workers across the country. said. Picketers showed up early Thursday morning.
“Amazon doesn’t show its workers the respect they deserve and keeps them closer to the picket line,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do the right thing by our members, but they ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer is seeking a redo of the election that led to a union victory at the Staten Island warehouse, which is currently represented by the Teamsters. In the process, the company filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon maintains that the delivery drivers the Teamsters spent more than a year organizing are not its employees. In its business model, drivers work for third-party companies called delivery service partners and deliver millions of packages to customers every day.
“For over a year, the Teamsters have intentionally misled the public by claiming to represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers,’ which they do not. “This is yet another attempt to push a false narrative,” an Amazon spokesperson said. Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters were actively trying to intimidate, intimidate, and coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers into participating, which is illegal and requires multiple actions against the union. The company is the subject of pending unfair labor practice charges.
The Teamsters argue that Amazon essentially controls everything its drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with unions in their filings with the NLRB. Amid mounting pressure, Amazon raised pay for its drivers in September.
