Amazon Teamsters in NYC have voted to authorize a strike


Workers at a Staten Island, New York Amazon warehouse voted on Friday to authorize a strike if the company doesn’t agree to set dates for contract negotiations. The workers are asking Amazon to recognize the union and bargain for safer working conditions and better wages, threatening the possibility of a strike during one of Amazon’s busiest times of the year.
Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien says in a press release that Amazon must agree to bargaining dates by December 15th, which passed yesterday. If Amazon hasn’t agreed, it risks facing a strike by the more than 5,500 workers at its Staten Island (JFK8) fulfillment center. Delivery drivers at a Queens (DBK4) last-mile delivery station also voted to authorize a strike.
“This is my third holiday I’m giving to Amazon,” a worker named James said in a video published Friday by labor nonprofit More Perfect Union. “I haven’t been around for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It’s constant speed-up for the holidays. It’s like twice as dangerous, I would say.”
A newly published US Senate Committee report says that, based on an investigation of Amazon’s records, the company’s warehouse injury rates were “more than 1.8 times that of other companies in each of the past seven years,” according to The New York Times. Senator Bernie Sanders, who chairs the committee, said “Amazon’s executives repeatedly chose to put profits ahead of the health and safety of its workers by ignoring recommendations that would substantially reduce injuries.”
In a statement emailed to The Verge, Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards accused the Teamsters union of “intentionally” misleading claims that it represents thousands of Amazon employees and drivers.
They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative. 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.
Hards didn’t immediately respond when we asked which charges she was referring to. Conversely, in 2022, the National Labor Relations Board alleged that Amazon itself “repeatedly broke the law by threatening, surveilling, and interrogating” Staten Island workers who were attempting to unionize.
Workers at the Staten Island warehouse voted to unionize in 2022 and joined Teamsters, one of the largest US labor unions, in June, followed by drivers working out of the Queens facility in September. Amazon hasn’t recognized those unions. As of this writing, the Teamsters hasn’t announced an active strike on its X account, its Facebook page, or its site.
Workers at a Staten Island, New York Amazon warehouse voted on Friday to authorize a strike if the company doesn’t agree to set dates for contract negotiations. The workers are asking Amazon to recognize the union and bargain for safer working conditions and better wages, threatening the possibility of a…
Recent Posts
- Max’s ad-supported tier is losing CNN and the Bleacher Report
- Victrola’s cheapest Sonos-compatible turntable is over half off today
- Amazon’s AI-heavy Alexa+ will be accessible on the web
- Slack is down for thousands – we’ve got live updates on the outage and what’s happening
- Live updates from Amazon’s 2025 AI Alexa event
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010