Amazon Workers Strike In US: Will It Impact Christmas Deliveries? An Explainer

With less than a week to go for Christmas, thousands of Amazon warehouse workers across four US states went on a strike on Thursday (Dec 19), leading to apprehensions that deliveries might be impacted during the busy festive period. The strike was called after the Jeff Bezos-owned company refused to start contract negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters - a labour union, claiming to represent 7,000 Amazon workers which accounts for less than one per cent of the company's US workforce.

Amazon Teamsters at seven facilities in Skokie, Illinois; New York City; Atlanta; San Francisco; and Southern California are part of the largest strike against the company with workers at other facilities preparing to join them as well. Although Teamsters claims that it represents nearly 10,000 Amazon workers across 10 facilities, the trillion-dollar company does not recognise workers' affiliation with the union.

Why was the strike launched?

The strike was launched after Teamsters said Amazon ignored the December 15 deadline to negotiate new contracts for higher wages, better benefits and safer working conditions. For a long time, Amazon warehouse workers and delivery executives have claimed that the working conditions can be extremely taxing.

“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,” said Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien, in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“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.”

— Teamsters (@Teamsters) December 19, 2024

Will strike impact deliveries?

Despite the threat of the strike getting bigger, Amazon claims that its holiday deliveries will not be impacted and that Teamsters was 'misleading' the public.

"For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public — claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers'. They don't, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel was quoted as saying by Fox News.

"The truth is that the 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."

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How long will the strike last?

With Amazon showing no signs of getting to the negotiation table, the strike could go past Christmas and into the New Year.