Data map: Amazon employees at seven factories in the United States went on strike early, aiming to force the retailer to enter into contract negotiations with the union. |Photo credit: AP
Workers at seven Amazon.com facilities in the United States went on strike Thursday ahead of the holiday shopping rush, aiming to force the retailer into contract talks with unions.
Warehouse workers in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco are taking part in the “largest” strike against Amazon, said the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents about 10,000 workers at 10 of the company’s facilities.
However, the company said it did not expect any impact on operations during one of its busiest times of the year.
Amazon is one of the largest companies in the United States by market capitalization. Unions account for only about 1% of Amazon’s employees and have multiple branches in many metropolitan areas.
The union has set a Dec. 15 deadline for Amazon to begin negotiations, and warehouse workers recently voted to authorize a strike.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters general manager Sean O’Brien said Wednesday night.
“We gave Amazon a clear deadline to sit down and do the right thing for our members. They ignored that. This strike is their responsibility.”
The retailer’s shares rose 1.5% in pre-market trading, suggesting investors did not expect the strike to cause major disruption.
An Amazon spokesperson said Thursday that the Teamsters Association “intentionally misled the public” and “threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce” employees and third-party drivers into joining them.
Observers say Amazon is unlikely to enter the talks because it could open the door to more union action. The company has more than 1.5 million employees worldwide and says it prefers to have direct relationships with employees.
Still, the company has responded to recent organizing efforts with legal challenges. Amazon has filed an objection to the 2022 union vote in Staten Island with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing agency officials of bias.
It also challenged the NLRB’s constitutionality in a federal lawsuit in September.
Earlier this year, the company announced a $2.1 billion investment to improve wages for U.S. delivery and transportation workers, raising employees’ base wages by at least $1.50 to about $22 an hour, an increase of about 7%.
Published – December 20, 2024 09:51 AM (IST)