Various plants Amazon across the United States joined the New York strike organized by the Teamsters union the day before Christmasafter union representatives assured that the company did not sit down at the contract negotiations table on December 15.
The union said workers joined picket lines in New York, Skokie, Illinois, Atlanta, San Francisco and Southern California to win contracts that guarantee better wages and working conditions.
The Teamsters say they represent 10,000 employees at Amazon’s warehouses and delivery centers across ten US sites, but only seven of the company’s 1.5 million workers will take part in the strike this Thursday.
The union notes that Amazon ranks second on the Fortune 500 list of the country’s largest companies, worth more than two trillion dollars, but it’s still “The company doesn’t pay its workers enough to make ends meet.”
“If your package is delayed during the holidaysyou can blame it on Amazon’s insatiable greed. We’ve given Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do what’s right for our members. They ignored it,” Teamsters CEO Sean M. O’Brien said in a press release.
The union considers this strike “historic” and notes that Amazon doesn’t respect its employees nor on their right to negotiate for better working conditions and wages, according to some workers, who in many cases belong to companies subcontracting the company.
An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC that The Teamsters have been campaigning for a year for “deliberately deceive the public” and that the protesters are “almost entirely outsiders.”
“The truth is that they failed to gain sufficient support from our employees and partners and brought in outsiders to harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” the company said, stressing that focused on delivering Christmas orders customers during one of the busiest periods of the delivery service.
New York warehouses at the center of the strike
In New York, police visited city warehouses in Staten Island and Queens and established a police cordon so that the company’s transport can leave the territory.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency that protects the rights of private sector workers in the United States, has published dozens of complaints accusing Amazon of illegal tactics to suppress union formation.
Company resorted to practices such as dismissing supporters these initiatives, threats and holding mandatory meetings against the trade unions themselves. (EFE)
Source: Aristegui Noticias
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
