Nearly 10,000 Amazon workers across the U.S. have gone on strike mere days before Christmas. Organised by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union is accusing Amazon of failing to negotiate a fair contract with them. In response, Amazon claims that the workers striking aren’t actually its employees.
The Amazon strike began on Thursday at 6 a.m EST, with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announcing picket lines in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco, and Illinois. This action follows Teamsters issuing a deadline to Amazon earlier this month, demanding it come to the negotiating table by Dec. 15.
Workers across several Amazon facilities voted to authorise strikes over the past week, with Amazon ultimately failing to recognise their union and meet Teamsters’ deadline for negotiations. The union’s concerns include “low wages, disrespect, and illegal union busting,” as well as workplace safety issues.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
Unsurprisingly, Amazon has refuted Teamster’s characterisation of the situation, calling it a “PR play” and accusing them of acting illegally. Specifically, Amazon alledges that Teamsters has “actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce” employees and contractors to join them.
“There are a lot of nuances here but I want to be clear, the Teamsters don’t represent any Amazon employees despite their claims to the contrary,” said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel.
At least some of the striking workers are reportedly employees of a third-party contractor rather than direct hires of Amazon itself. Even so, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) previously determined that Amazon is a joint employer with its subcontractors, and has enough control over workers’ conditions to be responsible for them under law.
Of course, Amazon disagrees. Yet rather than argue these facts, Amazon has challenged this decision by attacking the NLRB itself, claiming that the 90-year-old government agency is unconstitutional. The company previously presented the same argument in February, joining SpaceX and Trader Joe’s in attempting to undermine the NLRB’s legitimacy.
Amazon also attempted to overturn the first ever union of Amazon warehouse workers last year, though was ultimately unsuccessful.
Pay and working conditions at Amazon have been constant concerns for many years. Last month, employees across the globe went on strike during Black Friday for the fifth annual Make Amazon Pay campaign. Protestors have consistently demanded the e-commerce giant improve its treatment of workers, respect their right to organise, operate sustainably, and give back to society. The Make Amazon Pay campaign is not organised by Teamsters, and involved workers in over 20 countries this year.
The net worth of Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos currently sits at $237 billion, putting him second only to Elon Musk on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires list. This is a $68 billion increase since Bezo’s net worth during last year’s Make Amazon Pay protests — a bump larger than Myanmar’s GDP, and the approximate size of Alaska’s.
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