Amazon workers go on strike during busy holiday season in US | Labor rights
The Teamsters union is calling on workers in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco to quit their jobs over pay and working conditions.
Thousands of Amazon employees across the United States will go on strike during the busy holiday season after union officials accused the retailer of refusing to negotiate better wages and conditions.
The Teamsters union said Wednesday that warehouse workers would join the picket lines starting at 6 a.m. Eastern time (11 a.m. GMT) on Thursday in cities including New York, Atlanta and San Francisco, marking the largest strike against the company in the history of the USA.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We have given Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do the right thing for our members. They ignored it,” Teamsters general president Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“These greedy executives have had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they have pushed workers to their limits and are now paying the price. This strike is on them.”
Teamsters, one of the largest unions in North America, says it represents around 10,000 Amazon workers among the retail giant’s approximately 800,000 US workforce.
Amazon disputes the union’s claim to represent any of its employees and says its behavior is illegal.
“For more than a year, the Teamsters have intentionally misled the public by claiming they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers.’ They are not doing that and this is another attempt to spread a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told Al Jazeera.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers into joining, which is illegal and the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”
Amazon, the world’s second-largest private employer after Walmart, has faced accusations for years that it values profits over safe conditions in its operations.
A U.S. Senate committee earlier this week released the results of an 18-month investigation that found the company was pushing its warehouse workers to complete orders at a speed that could lead to high injury rates.
Amazon said the report was “factually incorrect and contains selective, outdated information that lacks context and is not based in reality.”
Last month, Amazon workers in more than 20 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, announced a “Make Amazon Pay” protest and strike campaign aimed at raising awareness of labor abuses and environmental degradation.
