Thousands of Amazon workers on Thursday 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 labour 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 labor 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 Thursday, 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.