Amazon has alleged that strike participants were “entirely” outsiders, rather than company employees or contractors. In fact, Amazon has separately disputed its very status as an employer of contract workers, including drivers.

Teamsters threaten to expand pickets

The Teamsters say they represent almost 10,000 Amazon staff and contractors at warehouses, delivery and air hubs. Amazon has accused the union of illegal and coercive tactics. The retail giant employs about 1.5 million people, excluding part-timers and contractors.

“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’. They don’t,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement.

The union’s pickets could spread to additional Amazon sites in the days before Christmas and Hanukkah, targeting major packing and delivery hubs.

One notable location is the Staten Island warehouse in New York, which is a key center for online-shopping in the city. Amazon workers there voted to unionize in 2022, but the company is still legally challenging that result.

The Teamsters had said they would set up picket lines at “hundreds” of Amazon facilities, encouraging non-unionized workers to protest under the U.S. labor law that protects workers’ right to take collective action to advance their interests. The Teamsters union is among the most powerful in the U.S. and Canada, representing 1.3 million people.

“These workers are exercising their power,” Randy Korgan, the Teamsters’ national director for Amazon, told NPR. “They now realize there is a pathway to take on a corporate giant like this – that they hold the power.”

The Teamsters told NPR the strike would last longer than a day, but did not say how long. Workers would be provided strike pay by the union, at a rate of $1,000 a week, the union said.

“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.”

Amazon’s spokesperson told NPR the company did not expect strikes to impact customer orders.