The union defenders’ strike was initiated by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and Amazon warehouse workers before one of the busiest shipping seasons of the year after claims that the company has “insatiable greed” ABC News reports.
The strike began Dec. 19 at several major Amazon facilities in cities including New York, Atlanta, three locations in Southern California, San Francisco and Skokie, Ill. In what the Teamsters are calling “the largest strike against Amazon in the U.S in its history,” local unions will also be seen on primary pickets at hundreds of Amazon fulfillment centers statewide. with lines.
Things came to a head after the online shopping giant allegedly refused to bargain with the Teamsters-organized workers, Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement if buyers are upset about shipping delaysthey can blame Amazon. “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” O’Brien said.
“We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
Agreed According to the Associated Press, the Teamsters represent about 10,000 workers at 10 different Amazon facilities, a fraction of the 1.5 million people who work for the company in its warehouses and corporate offices. O’Brien went on to say, that there is a strike another requirement that workers get their respect. “Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they’ve earned,” he said.
However, Amazon says they have been more than accommodating and accuse the Teamsters of illegally forcing workers to join them. including a 20% increase in the starting minimum wage for fulfillment center and transportation workers.
The company’s average base wage reached $22 an hour in September 2024. Nantel says the strike is just another attempt to push a false narrative. “Thousands of Amazon employees and drivers do not, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” he said.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers into joining them, which is illegal and is the subject of numerous pending unfair labor charges against the union.”
The company also claims that for drivers, the fight is not theirs because Amazon insists they are not employees of the new business model.The delivery drivers allegedly work for a third-party business called Delivery Service Partners.However, the Teamsters continue to stand on the commerce conglomerate that controls it anything drivers do, which means they should be characterized as workers.
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