Amazon workers strike across seven facilities at peak of holiday shopping season
Amazon workers at seven facilities in New York, Georgia, California and Illinois went on strike Thursday.
The strike, organized by members of the Teamsters union, is intended to pressure Amazon to come to the negotiating table and avoid disruptions during the peak of the holiday shopping season. The union had previously given Amazon until Sunday to agree to bargaining dates for a contract.
"If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed," Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said in a statement. "We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it."
In a statement to CNBC, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters have been on a yearlong campaign to "intentionally mislead the public." While the union says it represents thousands of employees and drivers, the protesters at the sites are "almost entirely outsiders," Amazon said.
"The truth is that they were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous," the company said, adding that it's "continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders."