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With less than a week before the holiday shopping rush ends, Amazon workers in Skokie launched a strike this morning and joined other striking workers at six of the online retail giant’s facilities in New York, Atlanta and California.
It is unclear how long the strike will last. On Thursday morning a few dozen workers wearing winter coats and hats marched outside the Skokie facility carrying signs that read “Amazon is Unfair” and other slogans. Hundreds of workers at delivery station DIL7 in Skokie voted Monday to authorize a strike.
The site serves thousands of Chicago-area households, according to the Teamsters, which says it represents hundreds of delivery drivers in Skokie. Workers there organized this summer and are demanding union recognition and a contract from Amazon.
“Amazon is one of the biggest, richest corporations in the world,” Gabriel Irizarry, a driver at DIL7 in Skokie, said in a news release on Thursday. “They talk a big game about taking care of their workers, but when it comes down to it, Amazon does not respect us and our right to negotiate for better working conditions and wages. We can’t even afford to pay our bills.”
Nearly 10,000 Amazon workers have joined the Teamsters, according to the labor union. They are demanding higher wages, better benefits and improved safety conditions.
On Thursday, workers at other Amazon facilities also joined the picket line in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California and San Francisco.
Amazon has not recognized the union affiliation at the Skokie facility. According to a company spokesperson, subcontractors who drive for third-party delivery companies are not Amazon employees. Therefore there is no obligation to negotiate, Eileen Hards, an Amazon spokesperson, said Tuesday.
She added that previous strikes at other Amazon sites have not affected operations and deliveries.
Amazon Teamsters at other facilities are prepared to join the picketing, said the union. Teamsters local unions are also putting up primary picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
“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 Sean O’Brien, Teamsters general president, in a news release on Thursday.
“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.”
Since workers in Skokie joined the Teamsters, the online retailer “has illegally refused to recognize their union and bargain a labor agreement. The Teamsters gave Amazon a deadline of Dec. 15 to come to the bargaining table and negotiate a contract,” said a statement the labor union released Monday, when drivers voted to authorize the strike.
“Amazon chose to ignore that deadline and is pushing workers across the country closer to launching a strike that could disrupt operations for customers at the height of the holiday season.”
Earlier this month Amazon announced record sales during Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday from Nov. 21 through Dec. 2 compared to previous years.
Riley Holzworth, a worker at the Skokie facility, said in the Teamsters’ news release on Monday, “Amazon is one of the biggest companies on Earth, but we are struggling to pay our bills. Other workers are seeing our example and joining our movement, because we are only going to get the treatment we deserve if we fight for it.”
Hards, Amazon’s spokesperson, said in a statement Tuesday, “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 about the independent small businesses who deliver on our behalf.”
The Teamsters claim that Amazon avoids responsibility for its drivers through its “delivery service provider” subcontractor business model, yet has “total control over the wages, workplace conditions and safety standards of the drivers.”
Preliminary findings from a National Labor Relations Board investigation in California this summer found that Amazon is a joint employer of its subcontractor drivers, and has a legal duty to recognize and bargain with the Teamsters.
“The NLRB confirmed what every Amazon driver already knew: The [delivery service provider] system is a sham, and Amazon is our true employer. It is time for Amazon to take responsibility for the low pay and unsafe working conditions drivers face,” Deibi Reyes, a Skokie Amazon driver, said in a Teamsters news release this summer.
Hards of Amazon said in Tuesday’s statement, “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.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million people in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.