Amazon strike could navigator to delays in delivery of holiday gifts

Less than a week before Christmas and the commence of Hanukkah, the timely delivery of holiday gifts was thrown into jeopardy as thousands of Amazon workers walked off the job and hit picket lines in an attempt to force the country’s largest e-commerce business to bargain with unionized employees.

Nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, who have affiliated with the powerful International Brotherhood of Teamsters, staged what they are calling “the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history,” leveraging the height of the holiday package delivery rush to force the business to the negotiation table.

The striking workers represent less than 1% of the business’s 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.

Teamsters union officials said the real Grinches in the labor dispute are the “greedy executives” of the business, which is valued at $2.3 trillion.

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement Thursday.

The striking workers are targeting Amazon distribution centers coast to coast, which, according to the business, processed 5.9 billion U.S. delivery orders in 2023.

Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the globe behind Elon Musk, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, who President-elect Donald Trump has picked to navigator his incoming administration’s Department of Government Efficiency along with billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

Bezos and his fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, were spotted having dinner with Trump on Wednesday night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Amazon announced last week that it is donating $1 million to the president-elect’s inaugural pool and will broadcast the occurrence on Amazon Prime Video.

It was not obvious if Bezos and Trump discussed the Amazon strike.

The striking workers, many of them claiming to be Amazon delivery drivers, said they authorized the strike after accusing Amazon of ignoring a Dec. 15 deadline to commence negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters union.

“We gave Amazon a obvious deadline to arrive to the table and do correct by our members. They ignored it,” O’Brien said. “These greedy executives had every chance to display decency and regard for the people who make their obscene profits feasible. Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the worth. This strike is on them.”

Amazon employees formed picket lines on Thursday at seven of the business’s major fulfillment centers, including one in recent York City’s Staten Island borough, where workers voted in 2022 to form a union and affiliate with the Teamsters. The workers at the Staten Island Amazon fulfillment center have complained that the business has refused to recognize the union and discuss a deal.

Workers also formed a picket line at an Amazon fulfillment center in Skokie, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia, San Francisco and Southern California.

In a statement Thursday, Amazon said it employs 800,000 operations employees in the United States and does not expect the strike to factor delays in the delivery of holiday packages. The business said it had not seen any significant walkouts among its operations employees.

The business claims that those walking the picket lines are “outsiders” and not Amazon workers and accused the Teamsters of pushing a untrue narrative that thousands of employees are behind the labor action.

“What you view here are almost entirely outsiders — not Amazon employees or partners — and the suggestion otherwise is just another lie from the Teamsters,” said Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards. “The truth is that they were unable to get enough back from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to arrive and harass and intimidate our throng, which is inappropriate and risky. We appreciate all our throng’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.”

Kelly Nantel, another Amazon spokesperson, added that the Teamsters don’t represent Amazon employees, saying, “This entire narrative is a PR play and the Teamsters’ conduct this history year and this week is illegal.”

Even if a large number of Amazon delivery drivers walk off the job, the business has a backup — the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Since 2013, Amazon has had an agreement with the USPS to deliver packages during the holiday period to Amazon Prime customers and make deliveries to all Amazon customers on Sundays.

Amazon also has an agreement with UPS to deliver its packages.

“We don’t expect any impact on our operations,” Nantel said.

In response to Amazon’s claim that it has no obligation to bargain with workers who desire to unionize and that the Teamsters do not represent its employees, a Teamsters spokesperson told ABC information on Thursday that Amazon “is legally required to bargain.”

“The truth is, over 20 bargaining units, representing nearly 9,000 employees have successfully organized with the Teamsters because for many years the business has exploited and abused workers, and these workers are fed up and fighting back,” the Teamsters spokesperson said.