“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” the Teamsters president said.
Amazon workers across US approve strikes before holidays
Workers at four Amazon warehouses in Southern California, represented by the Teamsters union, have voted to authorize a strike, adding to recent strike approvals in New York and Illinois.
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Workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in the final days of the Christmas shopping season.
The labor strike represents an attempt by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to put pressure on the online shopping retailer by threatening to delay some of Amazon’s package deliveries during one of its busiest times of the year. The move comes after Teamsters officials accused Amazon of failing to come to the bargaining table to negotiate contracts by ignoring a Dec. 15 deadline the union set.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the price.”
While the union calls it “the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history,” Amazon has said the work stoppage is largely not anticipated to slow its operations.
Amazon workers authorize strikes in New York, California, Illinois, Atlanta
The Teamsters represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, which is only about 1% of Amazon’s hourly workforce, Reuters reported.
Workers voted to authorize the strike as Teamsters had sought for Amazon to recognize the union and begin bargaining with them by last Sunday. The union is fighting for a contract guaranteeing higher wages and improved work conditions with the strikes, which officials say could expand beyond the seven initial sights.
As of Thursday morning, the strikes were expected to take place at sites in New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco, Skokie, Ill., and Southern California. Teamsters local unions are also putting up picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide, the union said in a Thursday statement.
“Amazon Teamsters at other facilities are prepared to join them,” according to the statement.
Amazon says strike won’t slow holiday deliveries
Amazon representatives told CNN Tuesday that the potential strikes would not interrupt holiday business.
The Seattle-based online retailer has repeatedly refused to recognize the union, going so far as to file objections with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Reuters reported. In a previous statement to USA TODAY, an Amazon spokesperson said the strike is not a legitimate representation of its workers.
Many of the workers involved in the work stoppage are drivers, who Amazon has argued are not its employees, but rather work for a third-party business.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’,” Eileen Hands, a company spokesperson said in the statement. “They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative.”
In a statement to Reuters, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the Teamsters “attempted to coerce” workers illegally to join the union.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” Nantel said.
Contributing: James Powel, USA TODAY; Reuters
Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com