Hundreds of Teamsters union members went on strike towards Amazon early Thursday morning at seven amenities in 4 states throughout the nation. This, after all, is all taking place at a deeply vital time of yr for the web retail big: the vacation season.
The strike started at 6 a.m. on December 19 at amenities in New York Metropolis, Atlanta, SoCal, San Francisco and Illinois, as almost 10,000 Amazon employees walked off the job, in line with an announcement from the Teamsters. Along with that, native unions will put up main picket traces at a whole bunch of Amazon Success Facilities nationwide. This will likely find yourself being an actual mess, however Amazon isn’t too fearful. The corporate advised CNN that the hanging Teamsters account for lower than 1 p.c of its U.S. workforce.
Within the launch, the union mentioned its motion was the “largest strike towards Amazon in U.S. historical past.” It added that this motion comes after Amazon refused to discount with employees who organized with the union. It additionally mentioned to not blame union members in case your packages are delayed.
“In case your bundle is delayed throughout the holidays, you possibly can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a transparent deadline to come back to the desk and do proper by our members. They ignored it. These grasping executives had each probability to indicate decency and respect for the individuals who make their obscene earnings attainable. As an alternative, they’ve pushed employees to the restrict and now they’re paying the worth,” Sean M. O’Brien, Teamsters Normal President, mentioned in a statement. “This strike is on them.”
Shockingly, Amazon is pointing the finger on the Teamsters for this dispute. Right here’s its assertion to ABC Information:
“For greater than a yr now, the Teamsters have continued to deliberately mislead the general public – claiming that they signify ‘1000’s of Amazon workers and drivers’. They don’t, and that is one other try to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel mentioned. “The reality is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and tried to coerce Amazon workers and third-party drivers to affix them, which is unlawful and is the topic of a number of pending unfair labor apply prices towards the union.”
The spokesperson mentioned the corporate has elevated the beginning minimal wage for employees in success facilities and transportation workers by 20% and in September elevated common base wage to $22 per hour.
That is the most recent within the battle between Amazon and unions. Again in 2022, Amazon employees at a facility in Staten Island voted to unionize, making them the primary group at Amazon to take action. Since then, employees there say the corporate has refused to acknowledge the union and negotiate a contract. That is even supposing the Nationwide Labor Relations Board formally licensed the union representing employees on the facility. Amazon has appealed that ruling.
Anyway, please strive to consider this in case your Christmas reward is a bit late this yr: is it price it to have objects present up at your door instantly if the oldsters bringing it to you aren’t being handled pretty? I personally don’t suppose so, and I hope you are feeling the identical method.
