Teamsters union says staff in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco to stroll off the job over pay and circumstances.
Hundreds of Amazon workers in the USA are set to go on strike throughout the busy Christmas interval after union officers accused the retailer of refusing to enter negotiations for higher pay and circumstances.
The Teamsters union stated on Wednesday that warehouse staff would be part of the picket line in cities together with New York, Atlanta and San Francisco from 6am Japanese Time (11:00 GMT) on Thursday within the largest strike towards the corporate in US historical past.
“In case your package deal is delayed throughout the holidays, you may blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a transparent deadline to come back to the desk and do proper by our members. They ignored it,” Teamsters Common President Sean M O’Brien stated in an announcement.
“These grasping executives had each probability to indicate decency and respect for the individuals who make their obscene income attainable. As a substitute, they’ve pushed staff to the restrict and now they’re paying the value. This strike is on them.”
Teamsters, one of many greatest unions in North America, claims to characterize about 10,000 Amazon staff among the many retail large’s roughly 800,000-strong US workforce.
Amazon disputes the union’s declare to characterize any of its workers and says its conduct is unlawful.
“For greater than a 12 months now, the Teamsters have continued to deliberately mislead the general public – claiming that they characterize ‘1000’s of Amazon workers and drivers’. They don’t, and that is one other try to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel advised Al Jazeera.
“The reality is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and tried to coerce Amazon workers and third-party drivers to affix them, which is unlawful and is the topic of a number of pending unfair labour follow prices towards the union.”
Amazon, the world’s second-biggest personal employer after Walmart, has for years confronted accusations that it places income above secure circumstances at its amenities.
A US Senate committee earlier this week launched the findings of an 18-month investigation that discovered the corporate pushes its warehouse staff to fulfil orders at speeds that might trigger excessive charges of harm.
Amazon stated the report was “incorrect on the info and options selective, outdated info that lacks context and isn’t grounded in actuality”.
Final month, Amazon staff in additional than 20 international locations, together with the US and the UK, introduced a “Make Amazon Pay” marketing campaign of protests and strike motion aimed toward elevating consciousness about labour abuses and environmental degradation.