(Credit: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Amazon employees are striking after the online retail giant missed a deadline to begin negotiations for a union contract.
Roughly 10,000 employees have gone on strike as of Dec. 19. Workers are forming picket lines in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco, and Skokie, IL. Per a press release from the Teamsters, employees at other facilities have authorized strikes as well. Local unions are also putting up picket lines at hundreds of fulfillment centers nationwide, which could cause package delays ahead of the holidays.
“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,” says Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “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.”
The Teamsters say this is "the largest strike against Amazon in US history." Amazon tells CBS News it doesn't expect it to impact its operations; the company employs 1.5 million people in its warehouses and corporate offices.
The workers claim that Amazon has engaged in illegal anti-union behavior while failing to provide employees with better pay and better working conditions. "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," said Gabriel Irizarry, a driver at DIL7 in Skokie, IL. "We can't even afford to pay our bills."
Amazon, the second largest company on the Forbes 500 Global list, is valued at over $2 trillion. The company claims the Teamsters have "continued to intentionally mislead the public" about the situation. "The truth is that 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," an Amazon spokesperson tells NBC News.