As the Christmas shopping season enters its final days, thousands of Amazon workers are set to begin a strike on Thursday morning at 6 a.m. Eastern Time (11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time). The union representatives claim that the retail giant failed to come to the negotiation table before the deadline.
The strike is organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), representing American and Canadian drivers.
According to Reuters, the union stated that it represents around 10,000 workers at ten Amazon facilities in the United States, accounting for about 1% of Amazon’s hourly workforce.
The truck drivers’ union announced that workers from Amazon facilities in New York City, Skokie, Illinois, Atlanta, Georgia, San Francisco, California, and Southern California will join the strike picket lines in search of contracts that guarantee better wages and working conditions.
This strike may disrupt Amazon’s operations as the company races against time to fulfill orders during the busiest shopping season of the year. However, in the New York City area, the company has multiple warehouses and smaller delivery stations to enable quick same-day delivery services.
Amazon has not immediately responded to Reuters’ request for comment.
The workers of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters recently voted in favor of a potential strike, with the union setting the deadline for Amazon to start negotiations on Sunday, December 15.
In a statement on Wednesday, the union mentioned that local chapters of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters are setting up primary strike picket lines at hundreds of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.