Besides New York, workers will picket at facilities in Atlanta, southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, with other Amazon Teamsters “prepared to join them,” the union said in a statement.
Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien told Fox Business key priorities for workers include solid wages, benefits and the upholding of work-safety standards.
“Collective bargaining is all about leverage, and this is our leverage,” O’Brien told the broadcast. “This is our pinch point.”
The Teamsters union says it represents some 10,000 workers, or less than one percent, at Amazon facilities around the country.
Organizing drive
The DBK4 facility is among the sites where workers have in recent months demanded union recognition after signing up supporters. Workers have made similar demands in Atlanta and at an air facility in California.
Amazon has opposed unionization drives, which have depicted unions as a way to improve pay, ensure more manageable employment schedules and promote better workplace safety.
The company on Thursday accused the striking workers — whom it said were “almost entirely outsiders” — of intimidation.
“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,” Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hand said in a statement to US media.
