The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has announced that employees from seven Amazon locations will commence a strike starting Thursday morning. This action aims to compel Amazon to enter into labor agreements during a critical shopping season.
Recently, Teamsters indicated that workers at the affected sites voted in favor of the strike after Amazon neglected to meet a December 15 deadline set by the union for contract negotiations. While the Teamsters are labeling this strike as the largest against Amazon in U.S. history, the e-commerce giant maintains that its operations will remain unaffected.
The Teamsters claim to represent nearly 10,000 individuals across 10 Amazon facilities, a minor fraction of the 1.5 million people who work in Amazon’s warehouses and corporate offices.
One of the facilities involved is located in Staten Island, New York City. This warehouse was the site where thousands of workers voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since joined forces with the Teamsters. At other Amazon stations, employees, including many delivery drivers, have aligned with the Teamsters by demonstrating majority support, though they did not conduct official elections overseen by the government.
The strike action occurring on Thursday will take place at one warehouse in San Francisco, along with six delivery stations situated across southern California, New York City, Atlanta, Georgia, and Skokie, Illinois. The union has indicated that workers from other facilities are ready to join the picket lines as well.
Sean M. O’Brien, the Teamsters General President, criticized Amazon’s behavior in a statement, noting, “Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned.”
On their part, Amazon has been attempting to overturn the election results that led to the union’s success at the Staten Island warehouse now represented by the Teamsters. In its efforts, the company has initiated a lawsuit that questions the constitutionality of regulations set forth by the National Labor Relations Board in relation to this matter.
Amidst these developments, Amazon claims that the delivery drivers organized by the Teamsters are not their employees. The company asserts its business model relies on independent third parties known as Delivery Service Partners, which are responsible for delivering millions of packages each day.
“For over a year now, the Teamsters have intentionally misled the public by claiming they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They do not, and this is another effort to advance a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel stated in a response.
In their defense, the Teamsters argue that Amazon exercises complete control over the drivers’ activities and should thus be recognized as their employer. Some U.S. labor regulators have supported the union’s position in filings made to the National Labor Relations Board. Recently, amid increasing pressure, Amazon raised pay for its drivers to address the workforce’s concerns.
