Thousands of Amazon workers are set to strike in the middle of holiday shipping season, including at one facility in the Chicago suburbs.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said workers at seven Amazon facilities, including an Amazon warehouse in Skokie, will begin a strike on Thursday morning. The move is an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce company for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
As of early Thursday, several workers outside the Skokie Amazon facility could be seen holding strike signs along the sidewalk and into the street around the warehouse. NBC 5’s Lisa Chavarria said the Skokie facility employees approximately 400 drivers.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized strikes in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations.
The 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.
At one warehouse, located in New York City’s Staten Island borough, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
Where is Amazon striking?
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at one Amazon warehouse in San Francisco, California, and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City; Atlanta, Georgia, and Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join,” the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
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.
Could the Amazon strike impact holiday shipping and delivery?
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 Teamsters released the following statement about the strike in a press release:
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien in a statement. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. 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.”
According to the union, picket lines will be also put up at other facilities nationwide, allowing workers and drivers who aren’t currently in the union to participate in the strike action if they choose to.
According to Teamsters officials, nearly 10,000 workers have joined unions across the country. According to Reuters, that represents approximately 1% of the company’s hourly workforce.
“Amazon is one of the biggest companies on Earth, but we are struggling to pay our bills,” said Riley Holzworth, a worker at DIL7. “Other workers are seeing our example and joining our movement, because we are only going to get the treatment we deserve if we fight for it.”
According to the Teamsters, Amazon has “illegally refused” to recognize unions, and has declined to collectively bargain a labor agreement at the Skokie facility.
The Teamsters gave Amazon a deadline of Dec. 15 to engage in negotiations, which union officials say the company ignored.
A statement from Amazon to NBC Chicago said the Teamsters do not represent as many employees as they claim, adding in part:
“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 statement said.
