Amazon faced a coordinated picket effort on Thursday as drivers and warehouse workers at multiple locations around the U.S. pressed the retail giant to recognize their unions.
The campaign launched by the Teamsters union comes during the holiday-shopping rush, though Amazon says it has not affected operations.
The union had said it had organized the “largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history” and workers would strike at seven locations in major delivery hubs: around the cities of New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
By midday, according to NPR’s reporters and media photos, picketers at some of the locations numbered in the dozens. Other workers appeared to continue their work day as usual; trucks arrived and left.
The strikes are part of a new push by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to get Amazon to negotiate a collective-bargaining agreement with its unionized workers for better pay, benefits, workplace safety and other conditions.
Workers demand Amazon recognize unions
Outside the Amazon facility in Alpharetta, Ga., about two dozen people in fluorescent yellow vests marched and chanted, as delivery trucks and vans continued to enter and exit the facility. Gregory Dunn, 29, who’s worked as a delivery driver for about a year, said he hoped some of those drivers would join the picket line.
“I may look like a needle in a haystack, but we all fighting for the same thing,” Dunn said. “I’m fighting for all my brothers sisters out here. They may not see the vision now, but they will see the vision soon.”
In Queens, N.Y., over a hundred Amazon drivers and labor organizers rallied by a warehouse. A delivery driver who did not participate in the strike crossed the picket line to head out on his shift. “I’m proud of you,” he shouted to his striking colleagues.
Amazon has alleged that strike participants were “entirely” outsiders, rather than company employees or contractors. In fact, Amazon has separately disputed its very status as an employer of contract workers, including drivers.
Teamsters threaten to expand pickets
The Teamsters say they represent almost 10,000 Amazon staff and contractors at warehouses, delivery and air hubs. Amazon has accused the union of illegal and coercive tactics. The retail giant employs about 1.5 million people, excluding part-timers and contractors.
“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,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement.
The union’s pickets could spread to additional Amazon sites in the days before Christmas and Hanukkah, targeting major packing and delivery hubs.
One notable location is the Staten Island warehouse in New York, which is a key center for online-shopping in the city. Amazon workers there voted to unionize in 2022, but the company is still legally challenging that result.
The Teamsters had said they would set up picket lines at “hundreds” of Amazon facilities, encouraging non-unionized workers to protest under the U.S. labor law that protects workers’ right to take collective action to advance their interests. The Teamsters union is among the most powerful in the U.S. and Canada, representing 1.3 million people.
“These workers are exercising their power,” Randy Korgan, the Teamsters’ national director for Amazon, told NPR. “They now realize there is a pathway to take on a corporate giant like this – that they hold the power.”
The Teamsters told NPR the strike would last longer than a day, but did not say how long. Workers would be provided strike pay by the union, at a rate of $1,000 a week, the union said.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
Amazon’s spokesperson told NPR the company did not expect strikes to impact customer orders.
Amazon has refused to bargain with the union
The Teamsters had given Amazon until Dec. 15 to come to the table to bargain with unionized workers. Amazon argues its workers don’t want a union, touting the pay and benefits the company already provides.
Amazon has faced multiple accusations of unfair labor practices, including for firing labor organizers. This week, a Senate investigation accused Amazon of manipulating workplace injury data to downplay the risks at its warehouses and prioritizing speed over worker safety.
The Teamsters union points out Amazon’s profits had soared during the pandemic and since then. The company is now valued more than $2.3 trillion, and it reported net income of $15 billion in the latest quarter alone. It’s the second largest private employer in the U.S. behind Walmart.
Amazon workers in Germany on Thursday said they planned to strike along with their U.S. counterparts, according to the German United Services Union. Amazon has in the past faced strikes in Germany and Spain around the holidays to demand better pay and work conditions.
Editor’s note: Amazon is among NPR’s recent financial supporters.
NPR’s Ayana Archie contributed to this report. WABE’s Marlon Hyde also contributed from Georgia and Harrison Malkin contributed from New York.
