Thousands of workers at Amazon facilities across the United States went on strike on Thursday, the Teamsters Union said, halting work at the height of the busy holiday gift-giving season.The union, which says it represents some 10,000 workers at the massive online retailer’s facilities around the country, called the action the “largest strike against Amazon in US history”.Workers will picket at facilities in New York, Atlanta, southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, with other Amazon Teamsters “prepared to join them”, the union said in a statement.“The nationwide action follows Amazon’s repeated refusal to follow the law and bargain with the thousands of Amazon workers who organised with the Teamsters,” it said.Less than a week before the Christmas holiday, the strike threatens a disruption of deliveries of Amazon orders as Americans rush to send last-minute gifts.“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien said in the statement. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”Workers at a New York facility became the first Amazon employees to unionise in April 2022, with several other sites since following suit.Originally an independent union, the Amazon workers voted in June to affiliate with the Teamsters.Amazon has sought to block the unionisation efforts, with legal proceedings still ongoing.The company, however, said it does not expect any effect on its operations during one of the busiest times of the year.The Teamsters have “intentionally misled the public” and “threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce” employees and third-party drivers to join them, an Amazon spokesperson said on Thursday.Observers said Amazon was unlikely to come to the table to bargain as that could open the door to more union actions.It employs more than 800,000 people at its US warehouses and has more than 600 fulfilment centres, delivery stations and same-day facilities in the country.The Teamsters represents only a tiny fraction of the 1.5mn employees at Amazon, the nation’s second largest private employer after Walmart.The union has some 1.3mn members nationwide in sectors ranging from freight delivery to cafeteria employees.
