Thousands of Amazon workers at Amazon’s first-ever unionized warehouse voted Friday to authorize a strike, claiming the company is refusing to recognize their union and negotiate a contract at its New York City facility. Ta.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a labor union representing about 5,500 workers at the warehouse, said it risked a strike if Amazon did not begin negotiations by Sunday.
“By not showing our workers the respect they deserve, Amazon is pushing our workers closer to the picket line,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said in a statement to ABC News. “If these white-collar criminals want to keep breaking the law, they better get ready to fight.”
A strike authorization vote allows the union leadership to declare a work stoppage if it deems it appropriate. But the vote does not guarantee a strike.
In 2022, a union victory at an Amazon facility in Staten Island, New York, made headlines, accelerating the rise of entrenched labor organizing across the country during the pandemic.
However, after the union’s victory, Amazon complained to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that NLRB officials had shown favorable bias against workers and that union leaders were working to benefit workers. He filed a challenge seeking to overturn the results, including allegations that he bribed colleagues. support.
So far, legal challenges by Amazon have failed to overturn the union’s victory. Months after the victory, an NLRB hearing judge recommended that the vote continue. Shortly thereafter, the NLRB formally recognized the union representing the facility’s workers, imposing a legal obligation on Amazon to bargain in good faith. Amazon appealed this ruling.
Workers say the company’s legal challenge amounts to an illegal attempt to delay contract negotiations.
Employees select items during Cyber Monday at an Amazon fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey, December 2, 2024.
Eduardo Muñoz/Reuters
In response to a request for comment from ABC News, Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hurd accused the Teamsters of illegally forcing workers to join a union.
“For more than a year, the Teamsters have intentionally misled the public by claiming they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers,’ which they do not. No. This is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Haas said. .
“The truth is that the Teamsters were actively trying to intimidate, intimidate, and coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers into participating, which is illegal and involves multiple unfair labor practices. Charges are pending.”
The Teamsters deny such allegations.
Workers at the facility have previously said the union contract should include a minimum wage of $30 an hour and increased safety protections.
Delays are common in initial union contracts, but the time lapse in this case is beyond normal.
According to a 2022 Bloomberg Law analysis, the average time it takes for a new union to sign its first contract is 465 days. It’s been nearly 990 days since Amazon workers in New York City voted to unionize at the facility.
On Friday, the Teamsters announced that workers at a second facility in Queens also voted to authorize a strike.
“Driving for Amazon is tough,” Luc Rene, who works at the Queens facility, said in a statement. “What’s even tougher is fighting giant corporations who are constantly breaking the law and abusing the system. But we won’t give up.”
