In what they say is the biggest strike against the delivery behemoth in history, the Teamsters union announced a walkout against Amazon Thursday morning, with workers forming picket lines in four states.
Amidst the flurry of last-minute holiday present deliveries, the strike occurs just one week before Christmas.
Workers from a facility in New York City, another in Atlanta, three in Southern California, one in San Francisco, and one in Skokie, Illinois, which is just outside of Chicago, went on strike at 6 a.m. ET.
In a press release, the Teamsters stated that the work stoppage follows Amazon’s failure to meet the union’s deadline of December 15 to attend the bargaining table.
You can hold Amazon accountable for its unquenchable greed if your package is delayed over the holidays. We set a firm deadline for Amazon to attend the meeting and treat our members fairly. In a statement, Teamsters General President Sean M. O. Brien said that they disregarded it.
These avaricious executives have every opportunity to be decent and respectful of those who enable their heinous riches. Instead, they are now paying the price for pushing workers to the limit. He went on to say, “This strike is on them.”
The Teamster’s assertions are being denied by Amazon.
The Teamsters have been purposefully misleading the public for over a year by claiming to speak for thousands of Amazon drivers and staff. According to Amazon representative Kelly Nantel, they don’t, and this is just another effort to spread a misleading story.
According to Nantel, the Teamsters have attempted to intimidate and pressure third-party drivers and Amazon workers to join them, which is against the law and is the focus of several ongoing unfair labor practice cases against the union.
Amazon stated that its workers are free to join a union if they so choose and that the company currently provides competitive compensation, health benefits, and career advancement opportunities—all of which are demands made by numerous unions.
Nearly 10,000 Amazon employees have joined the union, according to the Teamsters. That is a tiny portion of the $2 trillion shipping empire’s 1.5 million employees.
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