Amazon workers at seven US facilities walked off the job early on Thursday during the holiday shopping rush, aiming to pressure the retailer into contract talks with their union.
Warehouse workers in cities including New York, San Francisco and Atlanta are taking part in the “largest” strike against Amazon, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The Teamsters union represents about 10,000 Amazon workers at 10 of the firm’s facilities.
Unions represent only about 1% of the hourly workforce of Amazon – the world’s second-largest employer after Walmart – and it has multiple locations across the US and globally.
The Teamsters had given Amazon a 15 December deadline to begin negotiations and warehouse workers had recently voted to authorise a strike.
Late on Wednesday, Teamster’s general president Sean O’Brien said, “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. This strike is on them.”
Disruption
The retailer’s shares were trading 1.5% higher in premarket hours, a sign that investors do not expect a big disruption from the strike.
Amazon employs over 700,000 workers at 1,000 warehouses in the US, so the strike of 10,000 workers is unlikely to cripple the retailer’s operations, though it could create supply chain issues.
The Teamster’s have “intentionally misled the public” and “threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce” employees and third-party drivers to join them, an Amazon spokesperson said on Thursday.
Observers said Amazon was unlikely to come to the table to bargain as that could open the door to more union actions.
Amazon has responded to recent organisation efforts with legal challenges.
In addition to this, the retailer has filed objections with the National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) over a 2022 union vote in Staten Island, alleging bias among agency officials.
It also challenged the constitutionality of the NLRB in a September federal lawsuit.
Earlier this year, the company announced a $2.1 billion investment to raise pay for fulfilment and transportation employees in the US, increasing base wages for employees by at least $1.50 to around $22 per hour, a roughly 7% increase.
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