Thousands of Amazon workers across the United States went on strike Thursday, according to the Teamsters Union, disrupting operations at a critical time during the busy holiday season. The union, representing approximately 10,000 workers at Amazon facilities nationwide, described the strike as the “largest against Amazon in US history.”
Workers are picketing at facilities in New York, Atlanta, southern California, San Francisco, and Illinois, with more Amazon Teamsters prepared to join the action. The strike follows Amazon’s refusal to comply with the law and negotiate with the thousands of workers who have organized with the Teamsters, the union stated.
With the Christmas holiday just days away, the strike threatens to cause significant disruptions to Amazon deliveries as Americans scramble to send last-minute gifts.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” said Teamsters president Sean O’Brien in a statement. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
Workers at a New York facility became the first Amazon employees to unionize in April 2022, and several other locations have since followed. Initially an independent union, the Amazon workers voted in June to affiliate with the Teamsters. Amazon has consistently attempted to block unionization efforts, and legal proceedings are still ongoing.
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The Teamsters represent only a small fraction of Amazon’s 1.5 million employees, making the company the nation’s second-largest private employer after Walmart. The union itself has around 1.3 million members across various sectors, including freight delivery and cafeteria workers.
