Thousands of unionized Amazon employees in New York are threatening to go on strike next week, right in the heart of the tech giant’s busy holiday delivery season.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Friday 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 told ABC News. “If these white-collar criminals want to keep breaking the law, they better get ready for a fight.”
The employees represented by the union voted on Friday in favor of giving the union the ability to call a strike, although that doesn’t guarantee a strike will happen. Amazon warehouses in Queens and Staten Island — the location of Amazon’s first unionized warehouse in the U.S. — would be hit by the strike.
Amazon did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Friday’s vote came after the independent Amazon Labor Union merged with the Teamsters in June. It also came after Amazon said in September it was investing $2 billion into its delivery business — a move that would boost the average hourly wage its drivers got to $22.
More Perfect Union, a self-described “advocacy journalism” outlet, posted a video to X on Friday featuring interviews with several Amazon warehouse workers. One male worker in the video said he’s been pushed to work 11.5-hour days, 5 days a week, with only a 30-minute break.
“Every horror story you read about Amazon is true — but worse. And that is why I voted ‘Yes’ for the strike,” another female employee said.
Conner Spence, the head of the local Amazon employee union, added, “Ultimately, Amazon only speaks one language — and that’s money. We’re going to hit them where it hurts until they decide it’s time to come to the table.”
The potential strike comes at an inopportune time for Amazon. Last year, the company reported $170 billion in Q4 sales.
