Teamsters expand Amazon holiday strike to secure just wages

(OSV News) -- After e-commerce giant Amazon ignored a deadline for a labor agreement set by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters labor union, workers at seven U.S. Amazon facilities walked off the job Dec. 19, during the height of the online holiday shopping season.

Amazon officials appeared unconcerned, responding that the strike -- which began at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in Southern California; Skokie, Illinois; Atlanta; and New York City -- is not expected to impact their operations.

Employees at other Amazon locations, however, are "prepared to join" the walk out -- the most extensive ever staged against Amazon in American history, according to the Teamsters. Late Dec. 20, the strike expanded to a major Amazon distribution center on Staten Island, New York.
"If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon's insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien in a press release. "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."

The Teamsters -- whose name historically derives from those who once drove teams of cart horses -- are America's largest labor organization, with 1.3 million members. Founded in 1903, the modern Teamsters characterize themselves as "the champion of freight drivers and warehouse workers."

Amazon -- the world's largest online retailer, selling books, clothing, electronics, music, and more -- is worth more than $2 trillion, and posted nearly $575 billion in 2023 worldwide net sales revenue. According to its third quarter earnings report, profits rose 55% in 2024 over the same period last year.

In 2022, Amazon's U.S. sector alone generated over $356 billion in sales, ranking it as the company's most profitable market; estimates suggest it handles approximately 3.5 million U.S. packages daily.

"Amazon has brought convenience for many consumers, but has undermined wages and working conditions for the men and women who sort and deliver packages," said Clayton Sinyai, executive director of the Catholic Labor Network. The Washington-based nonprofit promotes the cause of workers and Catholic social teaching in labor unions, parishes, and other organizations.

"They have tried to organize collectively to address low wages and the startling frequency of on the job injuries in the Amazon distribution network, but the company has fought their efforts and refused to bargain in good faith when the workers have elected representatives," Sinyai told OSV News. "We must support these workers and demand that Amazon sit down with them to negotiate fair wages and better working conditions."

In its press release, the Teamsters also reported that almost 10,000 Amazon workers mobilized a movement and joined the Teamsters to petition for higher wages, better benefits, and safer conditions at work.

"It's a very important event. It's the largest strike against Amazon -- because to date, there hasn't really been an effort like this that spans several facilities," said Joseph McCartin, executive director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University.

"In a way, it's been brewing for a long time -- even prior to the Teamsters' real, full entry into this," he told OSV News. "I think you can date this struggle back to the victory of the Amazon labor union at the JFK8, which is now almost two years ago."

JFK8 is Amazon's Staten Island fulfillment center, which is now part of the strike. In April 2022, 2,654 warehouse workers voted yes to forming a union, while 2,131 voted no -- heralding the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the company's history.

"Still, they don't have a contract with Amazon," said McCartin. "At a certain point, the frustration was bound to boil over. Amazon tried several ways to get the union election thrown out, but they've not managed to do that. The workers affiliated with the Teamsters over the summer. I think what had been lacking to this point was the power of a large national -- or international -- union. Now we're seeing how that could make a difference."

The right to unionize and seek workplace equity -- and to strike, if necessary-- is fundamental to Catholic social teaching. Pope Leo XIII, St. John XXIII, St. Paul VI, St. John Paul II, and Benedict XVI all expounded on unionized labor topics, in both official and unofficial pronouncements.

More recently, Pope Francis -- addressing the Italian General Confederation of Labor in December 2022 -- declared, "There are no free workers without trade unions."

The U.S. Catholic bishops' 2024 Labor Day statement likewise decried how human dignity -- particularly for families -- has been put at risk by declining union representation and low pay, emphasizing: "It doesn't have to be this way."

"Too many people and families are living in poverty due to jobs with low pay that often provide little or no benefits (and) erratic work schedules” while offering “insufficient protections,” said the statement.

Father Sinclair Oubre -- a member of the Seafarers Union and pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Orange, Texas -- felt it's too early yet to predict the Teamsters' impact on Amazon.

Nonetheless, he saw a parallel between the current Amazon strike and the short-lived port workers' labor action this past October, when the International Longshoremen's Association, or ILA, struck against the U.S. Maritime Alliance.

"Everybody said that the ILA's requests were extravagant -- and that it wasn't going to affect the situation, or that they would be able to work their way through it," Father Oubre recalled. "What was impossible became possible in three days."

Father Oubre noted that like many Americans, Amazon's expediency has been quite valuable to him -- as well as his parish. But the lean structure that makes quick delivery possible, he speculated, also might not withstand a sustained work stoppage.

"Very often we see the company's position is that, 'We can respond to this; it's not going to slow us down,'" added Father Oubre. "It's a system that's built on incredible efficiency, and a system that is usually very bare bones ... and when something begins to change, it has an impact."

"It's a snowball that will grow, or it's just going to kind of fizzle out," said Daniel Kling, an assistant professor of finance and business at Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina. "They have a leverage over Amazon, right before the holidays. But the people that are striking are all getting paid hourly, so it's probably not a great time for them, either."

Amazon's corporate website notes that, "The average pay for customer fulfillment and operations roles is currently over $22 per hour, and average total compensation to more than $29 per hour when including the value of their elected benefits."

Employees, however, find it tough to make ends meet in the current economy. Gabriel Irizarry -- an Amazon driver in Skokie -- reflects the prevailing mood.

"They talk a big game about taking care of their workers, but when it comes down to it, Amazon does not respect us and our right to negotiate for better working conditions and wages," Irizarry was quoted by the Teamsters as saying. "We can't even afford to pay our bills."

John Trumpbour -- research director for the Harvard University Law School's Center for Labor and a Just Economy -- explained to OSV News how Amazon's hourly wage breaks out. He cited a 2019 Russell Sage Journal of the Social Sciences article by David Weil, author of The Fissured Workplace.

"Weil notes that after paying for fuel, insurance, tolls, and many additional costs, drivers earned from Amazon a whopping $5.30 per hour to deliver goods to the homes of millions of Americans," said Trumpbour.

"Many large employers have turned to franchised and contracted labor to create dramatic cuts in labor costs that are devastating to the well-being of ordinary workers," he added. "There is still a long way to go, especially judging by Amazon management in its fierce and strident claims of having no employer relationship to the drivers."

Father Oubre agreed.

"I would say it's important for Americans to appreciate the invisible workers that are out there. In their flexibility and cooperativeness, they in fact get left behind in the process," he said.

But Father Oubre said the Catholic Church "certainly supports the rights of workers to gather together into one voice, and participate in collective bargaining."

"So this is some flexing of muscles -- and maybe it will be a wake-up call to Amazon," said Father Oubre. "It's built upon the workers -- and they need to be able to share in the wealth that is there."