Amazon workers in New York have set a deadline for Sunday 15 December demanding the company agree to begin bargaining a first union contract with the union or else workers at the warehouse, along with other Amazon workers around the US, will begin an unfair labor practice strike.
Amazon workers at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, made history in March 2022 when they became the first warehouse at the retail giant to win a union election in the US.
A strike would be the first large-scale unfair labor practice strike at Amazon in the US.
Since the union win, Amazon has yet to begin negotiating a first contract with the union after filing objections to the election, which were overruled by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Amazon had also accused NLRB officials of bias and has challenged the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
“The Teamsters are done asking nicely for Amazon to stop breaking the law. Amazon must commit to come to the table and bargain a Teamsters contract with its workers – or face the consequences of its inaction,” said the Teamsters general president, Sean O’Brien, in a statement announcing the demand and strike threat.
Amazon Labor Union – International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1 (ALU-IBT Local 1), represents the workers at JFK8.
“What happens on Staten Island has an impact on Amazon workers across the country. Amazon’s steadfast refusal to come to the bargaining table sends a message that employers can flout their legal obligations under the National Labor Relations Act with impunity,” stated the union in a petition calling on Amazon to come to the bargaining table. “While Amazon continues to engage in illegal actions against the workers of ALU-IBT Local 1, the company is also seeking to abolish the National Labor Relations Board – further demonstrating its blatant disregard for the law and the working-class.”
The Teamsters have been organizing Amazon workers around the US for over a year, including delivery drivers in Atlanta, Georgia, and Illinois, and several delivery driver sites in California, the Amazon DBK4 warehouse in Queens, New York, Amazon’s KCVG air hub in Kentucky, and more than 1,000 workers recently demanding union recognition from Amazon at the company’s KSBD air hub in southern California.
“Amazon workers across the country are organizing with the Teamsters because we have had enough. The disrespect we face every day from management while working long hours and doing back-breaking work is a disgrace,” said Daniel Salinas, an air hub worker at KSBD, in a statement announcing the demand. “I’ve worked at Amazon for three years, and it’s past time we made some changes at this company. That starts with a union and a voice on the job for workers like me.”
Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards, said in a statement on the strike and bargaining demands, “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. 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.”
