Last Updated on December 20, 2024, 7:34 AM AST by Anthony Morris
A significant number of Amazon employees, especially delivery drivers, went on strike on Thursday, December 19, across several states in the U.S., just few days prior to Christmas.
Amazon employees protested and held strike signs outside seven Amazon warehouses spread over four states, from New York to California.
As per sources, one Amazon worker on strike claimed that the company failed to meet the deadline for contract negotiations, leading to the Teamsters Union, a labor union in U.S. and Canada, to lead this strike.
In a post on Teamsters official Facebook page, they shared that they are launching the largest strike against Amazon in the American history.
The ongoing strike has impacted facilities in New York, Atlanta, Southern California, and San Francisco among others.
Why the Amazon employees are on strike?
According to sources, the employees on strike asked Amazon to give them better wages, working conditions, and improved retirement plans.
The teamsters gave Amazon a deadline till December 15 to negotiate with them but the company refused to do so.
Replying to the allegations, Amazon stated that the majority of the workers on strike work for third-party contractors rather than directly for the company.
Another employer stated that the company forced them to make more deliveries in a short span of time, which led to risking their safety.
Will the strike have negative impact on Christmas deliveries?
The customers are worried about whether they will receive their deliveries on time for Christmas 2024 due to the ongoing delivery partners’ strike.
Responding to the concerns of the customers, Amazon shared that they have more than 800,000 employees working for them and only a small fraction of them are on strike.
They further added that customers can continue purchasing on Amazon without worrying about their timely deliveries, as their will be no impact on delivery time.
How long will the Amazon strike continue?
The strike’s specific end date is still unknown, but if negotiations fail or Amazon doesn’t find a better solution, it may last until Christmas and even New Year’s.
Why is Amazon not cooperating?
Most of the employees on strike use Amazon style vans for delivering with its brand logo but they work for “delivery service partners”, which are third-party businesses that are not officially connected with Amazon.
Amazon filed a complaint against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in September, in response to the complaint filed by NLRB against Amazon stating that the company is a joint employer of the workers even if they work for third parties.
Know about the Teamsters Union
Teamsters Union is an international brotherhood labor union which was formed in 1903, representing both blue (manual labor) and white-collar (professional services) workers in both public and private sector in United States and Canada.
With 1.3 million members as of 2015, the Union is headquartered in Washington D.C., in United States
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
