Strike efforts by union advocates The Worldwide Brotherhood of Teamsters and Amazon warehouse staff have begun earlier than one of many busiest supply seasons of the 12 months after claims that the corporate holds “insatiable greed,” ABC Information reviews.
The strike began on Dec. 19 in a variety of giant Amazon services in cities together with New York Metropolis, Atlanta, three areas in Southern California, San Francisco, and Skokie, Illinois. In what Teamsters name the “largest strike in opposition to Amazon in U.S. historical past,” native unions can even be seen in main picket traces at tons of of Amazon Success Facilities throughout state traces.
Issues took a flip after the net purchasing big allegedly refused to discount with staff organized with the Teamsters. Teamsters Normal President Sean M. O’Brien stated in an announcement that if buyers are upset over supply delays, they’ll blame Amazon. “In case your bundle is delayed in the course of the holidays, you’ll be able to blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” O’Brien stated.
“We gave Amazon a transparent deadline to come back to the desk and do proper by our members. They ignored it.”
In line with the Related Press, Teamsters represents near 10,000 staff at 10 totally different Amazon services, which is simply a small portion of the 1.5 million folks that work for the corporate inside its warehouses and company places of work. O’Brien continued to say the strike is one other demand for staff to get their respect. “Amazon is pushing its staff nearer to the picket line by failing to point out them the respect they’ve earned,” he stated.
Nevertheless, Amazon says they’ve been greater than accommodating and accuse Teamsters of illegally coercing staff to affix them. Spokesperson Kelly Nantel touched on the corporate taking a variety of measures to boost worker morale and the hiring course of, together with growing the beginning minimal wage for success heart and transportation workers by 20%.
In September 2024, the corporate’s common base wage went as much as $22 per hour. Nantel says the strike is simply “one other try to push a false narrative.” “For greater than a 12 months now, the Teamsters have continued to deliberately mislead the general public – claiming that they characterize ‘hundreds of Amazon workers and drivers’. They don’t, and that is one other try to push a false narrative,” she stated.
“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 against the law and is the topic of a number of pending unfair labor follow costs in opposition to the union.”
The corporate additionally claims that the combat for drivers will not be theirs as Amazon claims they aren’t workers below a brand new enterprise mannequin. Supply drivers allegedly work for a third-party enterprise known as Supply Service Companions. Nevertheless, Teamsters proceed to face on the purchasing conglomerate controlling all the things the drivers do, which means they need to be characterised as workers.
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