This Thursday, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters will begin a strike at seven Amazon facilities in the United States. Seen as a move that seeks to pressure the e-commerce company to move forward in contract negotiations. The workers, who authorized the strike in recent days, decided to take this action after Amazon failed to meet the December 15 deadline set by the union.
Work Stoppages in Different Key Points of the Country
The work stoppages will affect several distribution centers in places such as San Francisco, California, New York City, Skokie, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia. Although the employees participating in the strike represent a small fraction of the 1.5 million people working for Amazon in the U.S., the union stresses that these work stoppages constitute one of the largest protests in the company’s history.
The Teamsters union claims to represent about 10,000 workers at 10 centers, and some employees at other facilities may also join the actions.
Dispute Over Amazon Delivery Drivers (Teamsters)
Central to this labor dispute is the treatment of Amazon‘s delivery drivers, who, according to the union, should be considered employees of the company. Amazon has defended its business model, in which drivers work for outside companies known as Delivery Service Partners.
However, Teamsters claims that, although they work for these companies, the delivery drivers are under the direct control of Amazon, which, according to the union, justifies their classification as employees of the firm.
Amazon Rejects the Accusations and Defends its Position
The company has responded forcefully, calling the union’s statements misleading. Amazon claims that Teamsters has attempted to manipulate public opinion. Also, that it represents thousands of Amazon employees, when in fact it does not.
In addition, Amazon accuses the union of practicing illegal tactics such as coercion and intimidation to get employees to join them. Despite this standoff, Amazon does not expect the strike to have a major impact on its operations during the shopping season, although tensions continue to rise.
Keep up with the most important news of economy of Miami in all the platforms of Mundo Ejecutivo and in its social networks.
