Thousands of Amazon workers launched what they called the "largest strike against Amazon in US history" seeking to maximise pressure on the retail behemoth at the height of the holiday shopping season.
The job action targets seven Amazon facilities spaced around the United States. Workers on the pickets include Amazon employees who are affiliated with the Teamsters labor union and truckers who transport packages in and out of the facilities.
The move comes amid a Teamsters national organising campaign at Amazon, which has long fought unionisation. The country's second-largest labour union had given Amazon until December 15 to agree to bargaining dates, pointing to progress in unionisation campaigns around the United States.
In Germany, an affiliate of the union ver.di also initiated a stoppage at an Amazon facility in the western part of the country, saying it was operating in solidarity with the US union. The German union plans stoppages at eight other facilities involving 16,000 people through the end of 2024.
The Amazon DBK4 warehouse in New York continued operations, but the pickets "definitely slowed down" deliveries in and out of the facility, said Tony Rosciglione, treasurer of the Teamsters Local 804 in New York.
Rosciglione said there were about 300 people including union supporters on the picket line in Queens, where the union had signed up additional Amazon workers interested in joining the Teamsters, he said in a phone interview.
Besides New York, workers will picket at facilities in Atlanta, southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, with other Amazon Teamsters "prepared to join them," the union said in a statement.
Teamsters boss Sean O'Brien said key priorities for workers include solid wages, benefits and the upholding of work-safety standards.
"Collective bargaining is all about leverage and this is our leverage," O'Brien said, "This is our pinch point."
The Teamsters union says it represents some 10,000 workers, or less than one per cent, at Amazon facilities around the country.
The DBK4 facility is among the sites where workers have in recent months demanded union recognition after signing up supporters. Workers have made similar demands in Atlanta and at an air facility in California.
Amazon has opposed unionisation drives, which have depicted unions as a way to improve pay, ensure more manageable employment schedules and promote better workplace safety.
The company on Thursday accused the striking workers — whom it said were "almost entirely outsiders" — of intimidation.
"The truth is that they were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners, and have brought in outsiders to harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous," Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hand said in a statement to US media.
Workers at a New York facility in Staten Island became the first Amazon employees to vote in favour of a union in April 2022.
Originally an independent union, the Amazon workers voted in June to affiliate with the Teamsters.
However, Amazon has refused to bargain on a contract at Staten Island, arguing that the vote was unfairly administered by the National Labor Relations Board.
The case is one of myriad brewing conflicts between Amazon and the NLRB. An agency administrative court in November ruled that Amazon could not require workers to attend "captive-audience" meetings where managers argue against unionisation; Amazon has appealed the decision.
Amazon has contested the authority of the NLRB in a succession of appeals that could go to the Supreme Court.
The Teamsters campaign comes as the complexion of the NLRB looks poised to change with appointees of Joe Biden expected to be replaced by President-elect Donald Trump, who has historically been far less supportive of organised labour.
Art Wheaton, director of Labour Studies at Cornell's School of Industrial Relations, said the timing of the action near Christmas was designed to maximise the Teamsters' leverage.
"During Christmas time, Amazon is probably at its peak," Wheaton said. "There's not much more leverage than downtown New York City the week before Christmas." — AFP
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