With five days before Christmas, Metro Atlanta area Amazon workers joined a nationwide strike against the online shopping giant, WSB-TV reports.
Commuters were able to see a group picketed outside of the Amazon facility in Alpharetta on Dec. 19 calling for leaders to give credit to their union, the Teamsters.
“We’re trying to get better pay, better benefits, more time off, better winter coat—everything,” worker Gregory Dunn said.
Close to 10,000 Amazon workers at eight facilities across state lines were expected to walk off the job after the deadline of Dec. 15 to start contract negotiations were not met.
In a statement, Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said the company has “insatiable greed” and that the strike is another demand for workers to get their respect.
While Amazon claims it has been more than accommodating, pushing fair pay and benefits, in addition to raising the minimum wage by approximately 20% over the last few years, employees feel it’s not enough.
“I have two kids that I take care of on my own and I could never made enough to really provide for them,” driver Aaron Nipper shared. “I could give them the necessities, but I was struggling to like go that extra mile off of the pay that I made.”
Fellow drivers in other states share the same issues. Gabriel Irizarry, a driver from Skokie, Illinois, where another strike is taking place, said Amazon needs to feel what it’s like to struggle, although the company claims the strike won’t interrupt services prior to one of the busiest seasons of the year.
“Amazon is one of the biggest, richest corporations in the world. 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,” Irizarry said, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. “We can’t even afford to pay our bills.”
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel called the strike “another attempt to push a false narrative” and accused the Teamsters of illegally coercing workers to join.
“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,’” Nantel said. “They don’t…”
The Seattle-based online conglomerate has been battling with Teamsters since 2022 when an election led to a union victory at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York,
which the union now represents. In response, the company filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.RELATED CONTENT: Affirmative Action Ban Strikes Again As Black Student Enrollment Drops More Than Half At Harvard Law