Amazon workers to strike at multiple US warehouses amid busiest shopping season

San Francisco – Thousands of Amazon.com workers will walk off the job on the morning of Dec 19, in the crucial final days before Christmas, after union officials said the retailer failed to come to the bargaining table.

The strike is a challenge to Amazon’s operations as it races to fulfil orders during its busiest season of the year, although union-represented facilities represent only about 1 per cent of Amazon’s hourly workforce.

In the New York City area, for example, the company has multiple warehouses and smaller delivery depots.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said unionised workers at facilities in New York City, Skokie, Illinois, Atlanta, San Francisco and southern California will join the picket line to seek contracts guaranteeing better wages and work conditions.

The Teamsters union has said it represents about 10,000 workers at 10 of the company’s US facilities. Workers at seven of those facilities will walk out on Dec 19, the Teamsters added.

An Amazon spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The union had given Amazon a deadline of Dec 15 to begin negotiations, and workers at facilities voted recently to authorise a strike.

Teamsters local unions are also putting up picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfilment Centres nationwide, the union said in a statement on Dec 18.

Observers said Amazon is unlikely to come to the table to bargain, calculating it could open the door to additional union actions.

“Amazon clearly has developed a strategy of ignoring their workers’ rights to collectively organise and negotiate,” said Mr Benjamin Sachs, a Harvard Law School professor of labour and industry.

He noted that more than two years have elapsed since workers in Staten Island successfully voted to become the first US warehouse to unionise, and the company has yet to acknowledge them.

Amazon, which has said it prefers direct relationships with workers, has challenged union drives while saying workers have the right to organise.

As the world’s second-largest private employer after Walmart, Amazon has long been a target for unions. Some workers have said Amazon’s emphasis on greater speed and efficiency can lead to injuries, while Amazon has said it pays industry-leading wages and regularly introduces automation designed to reduce repetitive stress.

The company will face other union actions in the months ahead.

Workers at a Philadelphia Whole Foods in November filed to hold a union election, the first since Amazon acquired the grocery chain in 2017.

In November, an administrative judge ordered a third union election at an Alabama warehouse after ruling Amazon had acted unlawfully to thwart unionisation there.

Earlier in 2024, Amazon announced a US$2.1 billion (S$2.72 billion) investment to raise pay for fulfilment and transportation employees in the United States, increasing base wages for employees by at least US$1.50 to around US$22 per hour, a roughly 7 per cent increase.

Dr John Logan, a San Francisco State University professor of labour and employment studies, said a strike before Christmas may be the Teamsters’ last opportunity to make an impact before anticipated changes to labour law under the incoming Trump administration.

“Even a smaller strike could cause some inconvenience for Amazon,” he added. REUTERS