An Amazon delivery truck passes people holding signs and marching during a strike by Teamsters union members at an Amazon facility in Alpharetta, Georgia, US on December 19, 2024. REUTERS/Elijah Novellaj
Ilya Novelage | Reuters
Amazon Workers at seven facilities in New York, Georgia, California and Illinois went on strike Thursday to press for better benefits, higher wages and safer working conditions.
The strike, organized by members of the truck drivers union, aims to pressure Amazon to come to the negotiating table and avoid disruptions during the peak holiday shopping season. The union had earlier given Amazon Until Sunday To agree on contract negotiation dates.
“If your package is delayed over the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said in a statement. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do the right thing by our members. They ignored that.”
In a statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters ran a year-long campaign to “intentionally mislead the public.” While the union claims to represent thousands of employees and drivers, the protesters at the sites are “almost complete strangers,” Amazon said.
“The truth is that they were unable to get adequate support from our employees and partners, and they brought in strangers to harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” the company said, adding that it “continues to focus on customer engagement.” Their holiday orders.”
A Teamsters representative did not immediately respond to a CNBC inquiry about whether outsiders were participating in the strike.
Teamsters members claim that nearly 10,000 Amazon workers have joined the organization, representing less than 1% of the company's workforce of 1.53 million, as of December 31, 2023. The union said Thursday's campaign is the largest strike against Amazon in history. American. .
Amazon has long opposed unions among its workforce, but efforts to organize began materializing in 2022, when warehouse workers on New York's Staten Island… Vote to join union. Amazon has aggressively fought unionization efforts, so this was a tough defeat for the company.
In June, employees of the Amazon Workers Union, which led the Staten Island movement, Vote for membership With the Teamsters after their struggle to negotiate a contract with Amazon.
— CNBC's Annie Palmer contributed to this report
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