Thousands of Amazon workers strike during the holiday shopping rush, Teamsters Union says

NEW YORK (WABC) — The Teamsters union launched a strike against Amazon that began Thursday morning, and it includes multiple facilities in California, in addition to facilities in New York, Illinois and Georgia.

The union says thousands of Amazon workers walked off the job at 6 a.m., right in the middle of the busy holiday shipping season.

“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. “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.”

The strike will impact several facilities located in California, including ones San Francisco, Victorville, City of Industry, and Palmdale, in addition to facilities in Queens, New York; Skokie, Illinois; and Atlanta, Georgia.

“I’ve seen the Teamsters win big battles,” said Dia Ortiz, a worker at DBK4 in New York. “We’re ready to do what it takes to win this one.”

The retail giant said that its operations will not be affected by any of the union’s actions. Although the Teamsters claim to represent 7,000 Amazon workers nationwide, that accounts for less than 1% of the company’s US workforce.

The clash between the union and the online retailing giant are just the latest effort by the Teamsters to put pressure on the company and its strong anti-union policy amid the key holiday shopping period. It’s also a sign that organized labor is trying new strategies to represent workers at Amazon, America’s second largest private sector employer.

But Amazon shows no indication it is willing to reach a deal with the Teamsters, or even recognizes that the union speaks for any of its workers, despite the union declaring that employees at numerous Amazon facilities have signed cards asking to join.

“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. The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to 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,” said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel in a statement.

CNN Wire contributed to this report.

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