Amazon delivery and warehouse workers have locked in with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) for a seven-facility strike in pursuit of a new labor contract.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement on Thursday. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” said O’Brien. “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. This strike is on them.”
Per the statement, nearly 10,000 Amazon workers are participating in the strike in an effort to receive higher wages, better benefits and safer work conditions. Teamsters local unions are putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide. Amazon warehouse workers and drivers without collective bargaining agreements can also legally choose to honor the picket lines.
The Teamsters represent a small portion of Amazon workers, but have taken steps to unionize more. Amazon is the largest employer of warehouse workers in the United States, with estimates of more than 700,000 warehouse workers. Amazon also has more than 275.000 delivery drivers who work for third-party courier companies known as Delivery Service Partners (DSPs):
Overall, Amazon is the second-largest private-sector employer in the country.
What the Teamsters calls the “largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history” started up at 6 a.m. EST on Thursday after the group states Amazon refused to follow “the law and bargain with the thousands of Amazon workers” who are working with the Teamsters.
The distribution centers taking part in the strike include DBK4 in New York City, DGT8 in Atlanta, DFX4, DAX5 and DAX8 in Southern California, DCK6 in San Francisco and DIL7 in Skokie, Illinois. The release also states that Amazon Teamsters at other centers are prepared to join, and Teamster local unions will put up primary picket lines at “hundreds” of Amazon Fulfillment Centers across the nation.
The move comes nearly a week after thousands of company employees threatened to hit the picket lines during the holiday season. IBT told Amazon it has until Sunday, Dec. 15, to start negotiating, or risk dealing with a strike. The union represents about 5,500 Amazon workers, with employees at the NYC warehouses previously calling for a $30 per hour wage.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters president Sean O’Brien previously told ABC News. “If these white-collar criminals want to keep breaking the law, they better get ready for a fight.”
