Thousands of Amazon workers are preparing to strike starting Thursday, days before Christmas, over the tech giant’s refusal to begin contract negotiations.
Local union members in the US are preparing members for pickets and actions outside Amazon facilities in the US.
The Amazon company was given a December 15 deadline to agree to open talks with workers at the company’s JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island, which became the first Amazon warehouse in the US to win a union election in 2022.
“Our sisters and brothers at Amazon need our help and support – now is the time to show them what it means to be part of the Teamster family,” Teamsters Local 299 in Detroit wrote in a Facebook post, announcing strike shifts at an Amazon. branch in Metro Detroit on December 19 and 20.
The Teamsters did not immediately respond for comment. Teamsters Local 299’s post was later deleted.
A flyer from Teamsters local 206 in Portland, Oregon, also announced a picket at an Amazon warehouse in the Portland, Oregon area on Thursday and Friday. “Amazon has refused to recognize or negotiate with the Teamsters in its facilities,” the company said.
Amazon workers at JFK8 in Staten Island, New York, DBK4 in Queens, New York, four facilities in Southern California and drivers at DIL7 in Skokie, Illinois, voted this past week to authorize strikes. Workers at two Amazon facilities outside Atlanta, Georgia, have threatened to strike.
In a statement announcing the four approval votes for factory strikes in California, Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said: “The corporate elitists who run Amazon are leaving workers no choice. Greedy executives are pushing thousands of hard-working Americans toward the brink.
“Amazon rakes in more money than anyone else, they subject workers to harm and abuse time and time again, and they illegally claim not to be the rightful employer of nearly half of their workforce.
“This rigged system cannot continue to exist. Amazon must be accountable to both employees and consumers. If workers are forced to the picket line, Amazon will attack itself.”
Amazon criticized the Teamsters when the strike authorization votes were announced. Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hands said in a statement: “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers into joining them, which is illegal and the subject of multiple ongoing unfair labor practices. complaint against the union.”
