Hundreds of drivers at an Amazon facility in Skokie plan to strike Thursday morning, potentially disrupting holiday deliveries, in an effort to get the online retail giant to acknowledge their ties to the Teamsters union and negotiate a labor contract.
The strike at the Skokie delivery station and six other facilities nationwide will begin at 5 a.m., with workers at other Amazon locations “prepared to join them,” the Teamsters said in a news release Wednesday evening.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters president Sean O’Brien said in the news release. “We have given Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do what is right for our members. They ignored it.”
The Skokie delivery workers, who began organizing in June to join the Teamsters union, gave Amazon a Dec. 15 deadline to negotiate an agreement, seeking higher wages, benefits and better workplace safety. Workers voted to authorize the strike on Monday.
The Amazon unionization movement began in March 2022, when workers at a large warehouse on Staten Island became the first in the U.S. to join the Teamsters.
Amazon has refused to recognize the fledgling Teamsters union at ten locations nationwide. In an emailed statement Wednesday, an Amazon spokesperson reiterated the company’s position that the union does not legitimately represent delivery workers, calling it a false narrative.
The company does not expect Thursday’s strike to disrupt deliveries, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said.
Union workers will form a picket line at Amazon facilities in New York, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and at the delivery station on West Howard Street in Skokie. The Teamsters union also plans to set up picket lines at hundreds of Amazon fulfillment centers across the country, where unaffiliated warehouse workers and drivers “have the legal right” to honor the strike and stop their labor, the news release said .
A majority of workers at the Skokie delivery station signed union authorization cards with Teamsters Local 705 over the summer. They joined thousands of workers at facilities in California, New York and Georgia who have joined the Teamsters in seeking an inaugural labor contract with Amazon.
The Teamsters say Amazon has illegally refused to recognize their union, while Amazon claims the subcontractors, who use outside companies to deliver the packages, are not eligible for union representation in labor negotiations.
Workers at the Skokie plant hope Thursday’s strike will get their message across and bring Amazon to the bargaining table.
“Amazon is one of the largest and wealthiest companies in the world,” said Gabriel Irizarry, a driver at the Skokie delivery station, in the news release. “They talk a big game about caring for their workers, but when it comes down to it, Amazon does not respect us and our right to negotiate for better working conditions and wages. We can’t even pay our bills.”
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
