Amazon workers in US strike days before Christmas

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Thousands of workers at Amazon facilities across the United States went on strike Thursday, the Teamsters Union said, halting work at the height of the busy holiday gift-giving season.

The union, which says it represents about 10,000 workers at the massive online retailer’s facilities around the country, called the action the “largest strike against Amazon in US history.”

Workers will picket at facilities in New York, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, with other Amazon Teamsters “prepared to join them,” the union said in a statement.

“The nationwide action follows Amazon’s repeated refusal to follow the law and bargain with the thousands of Amazon workers who organized with the Teamsters,” it said.

Less than a week before the Christmas holiday, the strike threatens to significantly disrupt the delivery of Amazon orders as Americans rush to send last-minute gifts.

“If your package is delayed over the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien said in the statement.

“We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”

Workers at a New York facility became the first Amazon employees to unionize in April 2022, with several other sites since following suit.

Originally an independent union, Amazon workers voted in June to join the Teamsters.

Amazon has repeatedly tried to block unionization efforts, while lawsuits are still ongoing.

The Teamsters represent only a small fraction of the 1.5 million employees at Amazon, the nation’s second-largest private employer after Walmart.

The union has around 1.3 million members nationwide in sectors ranging from freight delivery to cafeteria workers.

In the 2024 presidential election, the union chose not to endorse either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, the first time it has not endorsed the Democratic candidate since 2000.

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