Amazon workers affiliated with the Teamsters union launched a strike at seven delivery hubs in four U.S. states this week, but experts say it won't have much of an effect on Christmas deliveries.
The striking workers are delivery drivers who work for third-party contractors that handle package deliveries for the company.
According to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the striking workers walked off the job early Thursday at Amazon delivery hubs in New York City, Atlanta, Skokie, Ill., San Francisco and three in Southern California. The union said it also planned to form picket lines at “hundreds” of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
What are their demands and how long will the strike last?
The Teamsters, which says it represents nearly 10,000 Amazon workers across the country, did not say how many workers were participating in the strike, which it called the "largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history."
The union did not specify how long the workers planned to strike or what demands they are making other than “higher wages, better benefits, and safer conditions at work.”
But as the Associated Press explained, Amazon has "rebuffed demands to come to the negotiating table since it doesn't consider the drivers to be its employees."
What does Amazon say?
Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hand said in a statement Thursday that the striking workers were “almost entirely outsiders, not Amazon employees or partners, and the suggestion otherwise is just another lie from the Teamsters.”
Amazon employs 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.
“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,” the statement added. “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.”
The strike follows similar actions by organized labor in the U.S. this year. Earlier this week, a union representing more than 10,000 Starbucks baristas authorized a potential strike, with employees in Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle threatening to walk off the job on Christmas Eve.
How will the Amazon strike impact holiday deliveries?
The head of Teamsters union suggested the strike will disrupt holiday deliveries for the retail giant.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
But Amazon said it does not expect the strike to affect holiday deliveries.
"Thankfully, the vast majority of our employees and the drivers who deliver on our behalf came to work today to do what they do every day," Kelly Nantel, director of Global Corporate Issues and Media Relations at Amazon, told ABC News on Thursday, adding that the company had not seen an impact on deliveries.
Experts say the strike will have a very limited effect on Amazon’s holiday shipments, if at all.
"They will have the ability to ship product from other locations. They won't be shut down," Satish Jindel, president of ShipMatrix, a software provider that tracks on-time delivery data for package shippers, told CNN. "Some packages that might have taken one day to be delivered will now take two. Some that might have taken two days will take three. But it won't be that many."
"It is possible there may be some isolated incidents of delay," Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff told Reuters. "I just do not think there will be a material impact."
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