Amazon employees are participating in the largest strike in union history, per PEOPLE. The Teamsters announced in a press release that the strike commenced at 6 a.m. EST Thursday, December 19.
This strike kicks off just days before Christmas and the beginning of Hanukkah. Nearly 10,000 Amazon workers have joined the Teamsters to advocate for safer working conditions, increased wages, and better benefits, leaving the delivery of many customers’ packages uncertain.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,”
Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,”
he added.
“These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible.”
The strike will take place at Amazon facilities in New York, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco, and Skokie, Illinois. The labor union claims that Amazon, valued at $2 trillion, has not compensated its workers adequately to meet their basic needs.
In a statement shared by PEOPLE, an Amazon spokesperson accused the Teamsters of unlawfully coercing employees to join their cause. Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel, said,
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”
The spokesperson noted that
“over the last six years,”
Amazon has raised the starting minimum wage for workers in fulfillment centers and transportation workers in the U.S. by 20%. Additionally, in September, the company raised the average base wage to $22 per hour, which amounts to
“$29 when factoring in benefits.”
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
