Teamsters announce strike against Amazon amid holiday delivery rush

The Teamsters union announced a strike against Amazon Thursday morning with workers joining picket lines in four states, in what they claim is the largest strike against the delivery giant in history.

The strike comes just one week before Christmas, amid the rush of last-minute holiday gift deliveries. 

The strike started at 6 a.m. ET with workers from a facility in New York City, a facility in Atlanta, three in Southern California, one in San Francisco and one in Skokie, Illinois, which is located just outside of Chicago. The Teamsters said in a press release that nearly 10,000 Amazon workers have joined the union. That’s just a small fraction of the 1.5 million people employed by the the $2 trillion tech and retail empire.

In that release, the union said the work stoppage comes after Amazon “ignored” a Dec. 15 deadline set by the union to come to the bargaining table. 

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.

“These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the price. This strike is on them,” he added.

Amazon is refuting the Teamster’s claims. 

“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public — claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said.

Nantel added that the Teamsters have allegedly tried to threaten and coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, “which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”

Amazon said its employees have the choice to join a union if they wish, and that the company already offers competitive pay, health benefits and opportunities for growth — all points which many unions are requesting.