An Amazon supply truck passes individuals holding indicators and marching throughout a strike by Teamsters union members at an Amazon facility in Alpharetta, Georgia, Dec. 19, 2024.
Elijah Nouvelage | Reuters
Amazon employees throughout seven services in New York, Georgia, California and Illinois went on strike Thursday to foyer for higher advantages, greater wages and safer working situations.
The strike, organized by members of the Teamsters union, is meant to strain Amazon to return to the negotiating desk and keep away from disruptions throughout the peak of the vacation purchasing season. The union had beforehand given Amazon till Sunday to conform to bargaining dates for a contract.
“In case your bundle is delayed throughout the holidays, you’ll be able to blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien mentioned in an announcement. “We gave Amazon a transparent deadline to return to the desk and do proper by our members. They ignored it.”
In an announcement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson mentioned the Teamsters have been on a yearlong marketing campaign to “deliberately mislead the general public.” Whereas the union says it represents 1000’s of staff and drivers, the protesters on the websites are “virtually fully outsiders,” Amazon mentioned.
“The reality is that they have been unable to get sufficient help from our staff and companions and have introduced in outsiders to harass and intimidate our workforce, which is inappropriate and harmful,” the corporate mentioned, including that it is “persevering with to give attention to getting prospects their vacation orders.”
A consultant for the Teamsters did not instantly reply to CNBC’s inquiry about whether or not outsiders are taking part within the strike.
The Teamsters web site says that almost 10,000 Amazon employees have joined the group. That represents lower than 1% of the corporate’s workforce of 1.53 million, as of Dec. 31, 2023. The union mentioned Thursday’s marketing campaign is the biggest strike in opposition to Amazon in American historical past.
Amazon has lengthy opposed unions amongst its workforce, however efforts to arrange began materializing in 2022, when warehouse employees on New York’s Staten Island voted to hitch a union. Amazon had aggressively fought unionization efforts, so it was a stinging defeat for the corporate.
In June, staff within the Amazon Labor Union, which spearheaded the Staten Island motion, voted to affiliate with the Teamsters after struggling to barter a contract with Amazon.
— CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
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