Amazon workers repped by Teamsters Union strike at multiple facilities across U.S.
Dec 19, 2024, 6:13 AM
Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien, center, rallies with Amazon workers outside the Staten Island Amazon facility JFK8, June 19, 2024, in New York. (Photo: Stefan Jeremiah, AP)
(Photo: Stefan Jeremiah, AP)
Thousands of unionized Amazon delivery drivers are striking at seven facilities in four states early Thursday.
The strike is for better pay and improved working conditions. The Teamsters Union behind the strike claims this is the “largest strike” against the trillion-dollar company in American history.
The online retailer stated the strike with the approximate 7,000 employees within the Teamsters union won’t affect its operations during the holiday season. About 1% of Amazon’s workforce are union members. Amazon also said the striking delivery drivers actually work for a third-party business.
More Amazon strikes: Amazon workers continue global strike through Cyber Monday
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in a statement on X. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
TEAMSTERS LAUNCH LARGEST STRIKE AGAINST AMAZON IN AMERICAN HISTORY
The Teamsters will launch the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history beginning at 6 a.m. EST on Thurs., Dec. 19. The nationwide action follows Amazon’s repeated refusal to follow the law and bargain with… pic.twitter.com/A06NKciCDB
— Teamsters (@Teamsters) December 19, 2024
“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 told FOX Business in response to the strike. “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.”
The national strike began in Queens, N.Y. at 6 a.m. Thursday, later joined by workers in Skokie, Illinois — a Chicago suburb, Atlanta and three California cities — San Francisco, Victorville and Industry. The decision to strike came after Teamsters leadership claimed Amazon ignored the union’s Dec. 15 deadline to negotiate new contracts that would increase wages, benefits and working conditions.
The Teamsters Union, one of the nation’s largest unions with more than 1.3 million members, cited that Amazon’s profits have risen steadily over the last few years. Amazon reported a net income of $39.2 billion in the first nine months of this year, more than double for the same period of 2023, with revenue of $450.2 billion so far in 2024, according to CNN. These figures make Amazon the world’s second-largest private company in terms of revenue, trailing just Walmart.
More on Amazon: Amazon employees ordered to report to work 5 days a week to ‘strengthen culture’
Class-action lawsuit against Amazon
Last week, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Amazon in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, accusing the company of withholding parts of customer refunds. Amazon allegedly claimed whatever was missing in refunds happened as part of a technical glitch in its computer systems.
The lawsuit accuses Amazon of two crimes: Conversion — asserting that the company unlawfully retained money owed to customers — and unjust enrichment — claiming that it profited at customers’ expense, according to KIRO 7.
KIRO 7 and MyNorthwest have reached out to Amazon, headquartered in King County, Washington, for comment on the lawsuit.
Contributing: KIRO 7
Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here
