Amazon employees within the US might go on strike forward of Christmas, after members of the Teamsters union voted to help industrial motion.
The employees say the web retail large has refused to recognise their union and ignored a 15 December deadline to carry talks over their contract.
Amazon’s services in Southern California, New York and Illinois may very well be affected, based on a Teamsters assertion.
“The company elitists who run Amazon are leaving employees with no alternative,” mentioned Teamsters Common President Sean M O’Brien.
“Amazon should be held accountable to employees and shoppers alike. If employees are pressured onto the picket line, Amazon can be putting itself,” he added.
The union mentioned it represents hundreds of employees at 10 Amazon services throughout the US.
However an Amazon spokesperson, Eileen Hards, mentioned the union “has continued to deliberately mislead the general public – claiming that they symbolize ‘hundreds of Amazon staff and drivers’. They do not”.
“The Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and tried to coerce Amazon staff and third-party drivers to hitch them, which is illegitimate”, she added.
Earlier this week, a congressional investigation concluded that the e-commerce large pushes its US warehouse employees to satisfy orders at speeds that might trigger excessive charges of damage.
The investigation led by Democrat senator Bernie Sanders additionally mentioned the corporate had refused to introduce adjustments to enhance security due to issues about its earnings.
Amazon mentioned the report was “flawed on the details”, and featured “selective, outdated info that lacks context and is not grounded in actuality”.
The corporate, which employs roughly 800,000 folks within the US, has confronted accusations about unsafe situations at its warehouses for years.
These issues ramped up through the Covid pandemic, when e-commerce exploded, resulting in protests by its employees world wide.
Amid the controversy, founder Jeff Bezos mentioned the corporate wanted to do higher by its staff.
Senator Sanders, who is understood for his pro-worker stance, launched an investigation into Amazon’s practices in June 2023. Senate staffers performed 135 interviews and reviewed greater than 1,000 paperwork.
Their evaluation of public information discovered that warehouses operated by Amazon recorded over 30% extra accidents than the warehousing trade common in 2023.
