Amazon employees at two warehouses in New York Town — either one of them a very powerful for turning in vacation items all over the Large Apple — signaled they’re poised to strike if the e-commerce large doesn’t conform to a timetable for contract negotiations.
The Teamsters union represents Amazon employees at a Staten Island achievement heart referred to as JFK8 that employs 5,500 employees, in addition to a last-mile supply station in Queens referred to as DBK4.
Employees at each amenities voted on Friday to authorize a strike if a Sunday negotiation time limit handed with no answer, in accordance a Dec. 14 submit by way of the World Brotherhood of Teamsters.
The Teamsters have no longer launched a remark because the Sunday time limit handed and didn’t straight away reply to a request for remark.
The Teamsters union approved a strike at two NYC Amazon warehouses. REUTERS
“Amazon Teamsters at two New York Town amenities — JFK8 and DBK4 — have voted overwhelmingly to authorize moves following Amazon’s unlawful refusal to acknowledge their union and negotiate a freelance addressing the corporate’s low wages and perilous running prerequisites,” Teamsters wrote on X on Friday.
Amazon claims the union does no longer constitute the “hundreds” of staff and drivers it says it does.
“In fact that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and tried to coerce Amazon staff and third-party drivers to enroll in them, which is against the law and is the topic of a couple of pending unfair exertions apply fees in opposition to the union,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards stated in a remark.
The Teamsters has been looking to arrange Amazon national and says it has infiltrated 10 amenities altogether.
Sean O’Brien is the pinnacle of the Teamster union, which has threatened Amazon with exertions strike movements. AFP by means of Getty Photographs
Teamsters president Sean O’Brien added, “We’ve been transparent: Amazon has till December 15 to come back to the desk and discount for a freelance. If those white-collar criminals wish to stay breaking the legislation, they higher get able for a battle.”
In the meantime, a scathing congressional document into employee issues of safety at Amazon was once launched on Sunday.
The congressional investigation — spearheaded by way of the Senate Well being, Training, Exertions and Pension (HELP) Committee, chaired by way of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — discovered that accidents at Amazon amenities had been 30% upper in 2023 than the business reasonable for all such offices.
Sen. Bernie Sanders heads the congressional committee that investigated Amazon for place of job issues of safety. CQ-Roll Name, Inc by means of Getty Photographs
The 160-page document additionally discovered that Amazon allegedly “cherry-picks” and “manipulates” its personal information to make its warehouses seem more secure than they’re.
Amazon staff are confused to paintings at an “extraordinarily speedy and continuously bad tempo,” consistent with the document.
The web large additionally denied the congressional document’s findings in a 2,394-word reaction insisting that the document and Sanders are “fallacious at the details” and depended on “old-fashioned data that lacks context and isn’t grounded in truth.”
The employees at this Staten Island warehouse — referred to as JFK8 — may pass on strike, consistent with statements by way of the Teamster union. AP
Amazon says it has higher supply speeds whilst lowering damage charges, including that it cooperated with the committee individuals as they carried out analysis.
The HELP committee stated it interviewed greater than 130 Amazon employees and met with just about 500 staff who shared 1,400 paperwork with the legislators.
Amazon, in the meantime, handiest produced one quarter of the paperwork — or 285 recordsdata — the committee asked over the 18-month investigation, consistent with the document whilst Amazon says it “produced hundreds” of paperwork for the committee individuals.
When Jeff Bezos stepped down as CEO of Amazon, he promised it will be the “most secure position to paintings.” AP
The document claims Amazon managers bark orders at employees, together with to “stay the road transferring in any respect prices,” consistent with the document, together with an incident by which a girl “handed out” by way of the conveyor belt and the executive by no means hit the “Prevent” button.
The document’s findings echo different state and federal allegations about Amazon’s tough paintings atmosphere, together with one by way of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s management, which filed a grievance in 2022 alleging that pregnant ladies and disabled employees are subjected to harsh bodily paintings prerequisites that cause them to prone to accidents.
In 2021, Amazon founder and previous CEO Jeff Bezos wrote a letter to shareholders as he was once stepping down from the helm, promising that Amazon could be “the most efficient employer” and the “most secure position to paintings.”
Bezos’ letter adopted a bruising, high-profile, failed try to arrange an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala.
