NEW YORK – Some Amazon workers led by the Teamsters union walked off the job in Staten Island early this morning, joining the third day of a strike aimed at disrupting holiday deliveries and forcing the e-commerce giant to the bargaining table.
More than seven Amazon delivery stations around the country have been targeted with walkouts and picketing since the strike started Thursday. Organizers hope the disruption threatens potential delays to orders in major cities including Chicago, Atlanta, New York and San Francisco, although Amazon has said the it will not impact operations.
Amazon’s Staten Island facility, known as JFK8 and staffed by 5,500 workers, is the company’s only fulfillment center in New York City. It is the biggest work site to have some portion of its workforce to join this week’s labor action.
The Staten Island center is also the location of the only successful unionization election by Amazon workers, who voted to organize in 2022 as the independent Amazon Labor Union. The group announced an affiliation with the Teamsters in June.
Connor Spence, the president of ALU-IBT Local 1 and a former Amazon warehouse worker, said he got about two hours of sleep after picketing during the night. He said “several hundred” people joined the picket line in freezing temperatures after midnight.
“These workers would rather be out there than work another day in those conditions,” said Spence, 28, who said he was fired from Amazon last year over a labor dispute. He said he has a pending case ahead of the National Labor Relations Board.
Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards said it was “business as usual” today at the Staten Island center, with the worker action having no impact on operations. “There may have been protesters but, despite claims, none of our employees walked out,” she said in an email to The Washington Post.
Only a few people were outside the Staten Island facility at midmorning today, with a cluster of supporters holding signs that said “Amazon is unfair” and “Amazon obey the law.”
“I don’t want be out here, I’m cold (and) I hate the cold,” said Adam Jacob, who said he was worked for Amazon for about six years as a warehouse associate. “But we need a livable wage.”
The company, the largest U.S. online retailer, said it employs 800,000 front-line workers nationwide. Amazon has about 1,000 warehouses, according to a government report.
The Teamsters have said roughly 9,000 Amazon workers have joined its ranks since June, at facilities including delivery stations in Georgia and Southern California and at Amazon airfreight hubs in Kentucky and San Bernardino, California.
Hards has previously said the Teamsters “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.”
This week’s strike is the Teamsters’ largest action so far against Amazon. The union is demanding the company come to the bargaining table and negotiate a contract.
Amazon has neither acknowledged the Teamsters declarations of unionization, nor agreed to bargain with workers at JFK8 since the vote to unionize, more than two years ago.
The company has spent years launching legal appeals against the Staten Island unionization vote. Both sides have accused each other of intimidating and threatening workers over union issues.
Hurds previously told The Post that “employees have the choice of whether to join a union.”
The disruption at the Staten Island center could impact delivery times of packages in the New York area if enough workers join.
Amazon employee Adrian Markey said he and his colleagues were struggling to handle the influx of packages that came in Friday ahead of the holidays. But the workers who joined the picket lines today decided it was the right time to press Amazon to negotiate.
“The frustration has been building,” Markey said.
Another Amazon worker at the Staten Island site, Mike Lebron, said he and about 50 of his colleagues walked out Friday night – a small fraction of the 1,000 or so workers he said were on duty at the time. Lebron said he and his other colleagues were trying to recruit more co-workers to walk out, but many employees were worried about retaliation and lost wages during the holiday season.
“People need the money, and I understand,” Lebron said. “I’m willing to fight for everyone’s rights.”
N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James (D) visited the small group of people outside the Staten Island center on today and led a “union busting is disgusting” chant.
“Power comes from the ground up, not the top down,” James said during a short speech. “And it’s important that individuals understand that this amazing country was built by working class people and by the labor movement.”
The strike, which began Thursday at sites including in Skokie, Illinois; Atlanta; Southern California, New York City, and San Francisco, could expand.
The Teamsters said workers at an airfreight hub in San Bernardino, California, voted to authorize a strike on Tuesday. Disruption at air hubs could have a greater effect on Amazon operations although workers have said the company is prepared to reroute package volume to other facilities.
(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Trisha Thadani, Caroline O’Donovan, Lauren Kaori Gurley