NEW YORK CITY (WPIX) - Amazon workers in New York City are rallying with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union and going on strike amid the holiday rush.
The strikes kicked off at 6 a.m. on Staten Island, in addition to warehouses in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco, and Skokie, Illinois.
The strike is an effort by the Teamsters to pressure the e-commerce company for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized strikes in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect an impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
The strike is reportedly a result of Amazon's refusal to negotiate contracts with the union after a deadline of Dec. 15. The union aimed to address key issues such as higher wages, improved benefits, and safer working conditions for warehouse workers.
“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 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.”
“I’ve seen the Teamsters win big battles,” said Dia Ortiz, a worker in New York. “We’re ready to do what it takes to win this one.”
The decision comes just weeks after Amazon workers in 20 countries went on strike from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.
The organizing labor union, UNI Global Union, spearheaded the movement intending to hold Amazon accountable for “labor abuses, environmental degradation and threats to democracy.”
Nexstar's WPIX reached out to Amazon for a statement and received the following response from Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson:
“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."
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, are not its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party business, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“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 said in a statement.
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer. Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.