Amazon strike could lead to delays in delivery of holiday gifts

Less than a week before Christmas and the start of Hanukkah, the timely delivery of holiday gifts was thrown into jeopardy as thousands of Amazon workers walked off the job and hit picket lines in an attempt to force the nation's largest e-commerce company to bargain with unionized employees.

Nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, who have affiliated with the powerful International Brotherhood of Teamsters, staged what they are calling "the largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history," leveraging the height of the holiday package delivery rush to force the company to the negotiation table.

The striking workers represent less than 1% of the company's 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.

Teamsters union officials said the real Grinches in the labor dispute are the "greedy executives" of the company, which is valued at $2.3 trillion.

"If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed," Teamsters President Sean M. O'Brien said in a statement Thursday.

The striking workers are targeting Amazon distribution centers coast to coast, which, according to the company, processed 5.9 billion U.S. delivery orders in 2023.

Amazon was founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, the second richest man in the world behind Elon Musk, the co-founder and CEO of Tesla, who President-elect Donald Trump has picked to lead his incoming administration's Department of Government Efficiency along with billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy.

Bezos and his fiancee, Lauren Sanchez, were spotted having dinner with Trump on Wednesday night at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Amazon announced last week that it is donating $1 million to the president-elect's inaugural fund and will broadcast the event on Amazon Prime Video.

It was not clear if Bezos and Trump discussed the Amazon strike.

The striking workers, many of them claiming to be Amazon delivery drivers, said they authorized the strike after accusing Amazon of ignoring a Dec. 15 deadline to begin negotiations on a collective bargaining agreement with the Teamsters union.

"We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it," O'Brien said. "These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they've pushed workers to the limit and now they're paying the price. This strike is on them."

Amazon employees formed picket lines on Thursday at seven of the company's major fulfillment centers, including one in New York City's Staten Island borough, where workers voted in 2022 to form a union and affiliate with the Teamsters. The workers at the Staten Island Amazon fulfillment center have complained that the company has refused to recognize the union and negotiate a contract.

Workers also formed a picket line at an Amazon fulfillment center in Skokie, Illinois, and Atlanta, Georgia, San Francisco and Southern California.

In a statement Thursday, Amazon said it employs 800,000 operations employees in the United States and does not expect the strike to cause delays in the delivery of holiday packages. The company said it had not seen any significant walkouts among its operations employees.

The company claims that those walking the picket lines are "outsiders" and not Amazon workers and accused the Teamsters of pushing a false narrative that thousands of employees are behind the labor action.

"What you see here are almost entirely outsiders -- not Amazon employees or partners -- and the suggestion otherwise is just another lie from the Teamsters," said Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards. "The truth is that they were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to come and harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous. We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders."

Kelly Nantel, another Amazon spokesperson, added that the Teamsters don't represent Amazon employees, saying, "This entire narrative is a PR play and the Teamsters’ conduct this past year and this week is illegal."

Even if a large number of Amazon delivery drivers walk off the job, the company has a backup -- the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Since 2013, Amazon has had an agreement with the USPS to deliver packages during the holiday season to Amazon Prime customers and make deliveries to all Amazon customers on Sundays.

Amazon also has an agreement with UPS to deliver its packages.

"We don’t expect any impact on our operations," Nantel said.

In response to Amazon's claim that it has no obligation to bargain with workers who want to unionize and that the Teamsters do not represent its employees, a Teamsters spokesperson told ABC News on Thursday that Amazon "is legally required to bargain."

“The truth is, over 20 bargaining units, representing nearly 9,000 employees have successfully organized with the Teamsters because for many years the company has exploited and abused workers, and these workers are fed up and fighting back," the Teamsters spokesperson said.