The Teamsters union started the largest strike against Amazon in United States history on Thursday morning.
The nationwide action follows Amazon’s repeated refusal to follow the law and bargain with the thousands of Amazon workers who organised with the Teamsters.
Teamsters General President, Sean M. O’Brien, said: ‘If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.
‘We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.
‘These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the price. This strike is on them.’
Workers will join the picket lines from DBK4 in New York City; DGT8 in Atlanta; DFX4, DAX5, and DAX8 in Southern California; DCK6 in San Francisco; and DIL7 in Skokie, Illinois.
Amazon Teamsters at other facilities are prepared to join them.
Teamsters local unions are also putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfilment Centres nationwide.
Amazon warehouse workers and drivers without collective bargaining agreements have the legal right to honour these picket lines by withholding their labour.
Leah Pensler, a warehouse worker at DCK6 in San Francisco said: ‘What we’re doing is historic.
‘We are fighting against a vicious union-busting campaign, and we are going to win.’
Amazon is the second-largest corporation on the Fortune 500 stock exchange.
Despite being worth more than $2 trillion, the company fails to pay its workers enough to make ends meet.
Gabriel Irizarry, a driver at DIL7 in Skokie, Illinois said: ‘Amazon is one of the biggest, richest corporations in the world.
‘They talk a big game about taking care of their workers, but when it comes down to it, Amazon does not respect us and our right to negotiate for better working conditions and wages. We can’t even afford to pay our bills.’
Nearly 10,000 Amazon workers have mobilised a movement and joined the Teamsters.
They are fighting for higher wages, better benefits, and safer conditions at work.
Dia Ortiz, a worker at DBK4 in New York said: ‘I’ve seen the Teamsters win big battles.
‘We’re ready to do what it takes to win this one.’
Meanwhile, with less than two weeks until their health care benefits expire, members of Teamsters Local 324 at Bigfoot Beverages are vowing to continue to stay on picket lines during an unfair labour practice strike the company initiated three months ago when it tried to scrap the workers’ pensions.
Mark Davison, Teamsters Western Region International Vice President and Teamsters Joint Council 37 President said: ‘For a company to try to force its workers to give up their pensions is bad enough, but to take away their health care right before the holidays is beyond heartless.
‘Unfortunately for Bigfoot, the Teamsters don’t give up — whether it’s Christmas, New Year’s, or any other day on the calendar.’
Chris Muhs, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 324 said: ‘This company may have forced us to the picket lines, but we’re going to stay here for as long as we have to.
‘This company will not run out the clock on us no matter how hard it tries.
‘The longer this takes, the more Bigfoot has to lose, not us.’
Teamsters recently filed new unfair labour practice (ULP) charges against Bigfoot after it refused information requests and offers to resume bargaining.
In its response, Bigfoot claimed that the company did not have to bargain because of the baseless claim that it can withdraw recognition of the Teamsters as the workers’ representative.
Bigfoot has also ignored entreaties from elected officials to find a solution to the strike, including Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley.
Brayden Pinney, a member of Local 324 on strike said: ‘Our employer’s refusal to recognise the right of our union to exist is shameful and quite frankly embarrassing for them.
‘Their strategy is backfiring. Every time this company treats us like we’re beneath them, that gives workers more fuel to keep fighting.
‘We are the reason Bigfoot makes money, and we demand to be treated with the respect that we deserve.’
Elsewhere, PSA and Air Wisconsin Flight Attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, demonstrated at six airports – O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, Dayton International Airport in Dayton, Ohio and Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin – as part of the first nationwide American Eagle Day of Action happening as the busy holiday travel season continues.
PSA and Air Wisconsin Flight Attendants work flights branded as American but are paid on average 45 per cent less than cabin crew directly employed by American.
Flight Attendants are demanding management at regional airlines stop comparisons with other regional airlines and instead agree to the same new contract framework as American mainline – double digit pay increases, boarding pay, back pay, and scheduling improvements.
While the Flight Attendants work for the wholly-owned subsidiary PSA and regional Air Wisconsin, airline management at American Airlines ultimately control pay and working conditions at American Eagle carriers.
Flight Attendants voted by 99 per cent in favour to authorise a strike as negotiations have already dragged on for years.
American Eagle Flight Attendants’ Day of Action – happening across major PSA and Air Wisconsin bases – is part of back to back weeks of demonstrations as flight attendants from numerous airlines take to the streets across the country this holiday season to demand the fair contracts they have earned.
Wednesday’s demonstration comes as the December holiday travel season climbs to its peak with Christmas travel.
- Starbucks Workers United said on Tuesday that 98 per cent of union baristas have voted to authorise a strike as they seek a contract with the coffee giant.
Bargaining delegates are set to return to negotiations with Starbucks before the end of December in the last scheduled session of the year with the goal of agreeing on a ‘foundational framework’.
Starbucks and Workers United have spent hundreds of hours this year at the bargaining table, and both sides have put forward dozens of tentative agreements, the union said in a press release.
However, hundreds of unfair labour practice cases still have not been settled, and the union said Starbucks has not yet proposed a comprehensive package that would address barista pay and other benefits.
The vote does not commit the union to a specific strike date, but does demonstrate, that Starbucks Workers United may take stronger measures against the company than it has since the two parties made some agreements including better pay and conditions earlier this year.
Starbucks Workers United said that strikes could happen in January if the employer does not implement workers’ demands.