Teamsters rally other union workers, community supporters to picket at three Tampa Bay area distribution centers.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: December 18, 2024
Johannes Werner: Workers at 24 Amazon sites throughout the United States have voted to join a union, but the world’s biggest retailer has refused to sit down and bargain. That, in turn, has prompted a 48 hour warning strike and pickets organized by the Teamsters. The actions are set for tomorrow, Thursday, within less than a week from Christmas. Planned actions include picketing at Amazon distribution centers in this region.
Teamsters Amazon video: I believe that we are making history… Making history, who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? … Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us, and we want to be heard. … This is really exciting. You know, we’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, to win better benefits, better wages. … I hope it just goes ahead and touches every other place, and everybody joins in at once. … You know, if you work union, you live better. … We’re in a different place now because of the Teamsters. So that’s why I want to fight to become union. … We’re ready to take on Amazon. The fight is on.
Amazon union workers. Screen grabs from a Teamsters promotional video.
Johannes Werner: These are the voices of Amazon workers from a promotional video made by the Teamsters.
Teamsters Local 79 in Tampa is now asking other unions and community members to support them in a two-day picket of three Amazon distribution centers in the Tampa Bay area. The action is part of a nationwide strike after the retail giant missed a Sunday deadline to sit down and bargain with workers at distribution centers elsewhere.
The action is part of a nationwide strike after the retail giant missed a Sunday deadline to sit down and bargain with workers at distribution centers elsewhere. The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 Amazon workers at 24 facilities throughout the United States. Workers at eight of these facilities, including a distribution center in Atlanta, have voted to authorize strikes, according to the Teamsters.
In a press release, the Teamsters said, “Amazon has set itself up to face large-scale labor actions during the busy holiday season.”
The company has resisted unionizing efforts tooth and nail. Amazon shows no indication it is even willing to recognize that the union speaks for any of its workers. The company is fighting in court the results of a union election at a distribution center in Staten Island, N.Y. two years ago, and refuses to negotiate with the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) or recognize any other employees who have said they have joined the union.
In June, ALU members voted to join the Teamsters. 
Amazon’s Florida distribution centers have not held union votes, which is why the actions here are limited to picketing at the gates.
From Thursday 7 am to midnight Friday, the Teamsters will place round-the-clock pickets in front of three Amazon distribution centers in the Tampa Bay area: Ruskin (3350 Laurel Ridge Rd.); Lakeland (1769 County Line Rd.); and Auburndale (676 C Fred Jones Blvd.). Initially, the pickets were going to target two more distribution centers.
Amazon has a network of 1,000 U.S. warehouses employing more than 740,000 workers. Many of the 10,000 Teamsters that the union refers to as “Amazon employees” are drivers for independent contractors making deliveries for Amazon and no one else.
The company said that its operations will not be affected by the union’s actions, saying unionized workers make up less than 1% of Amazon’s U.S. workforce.
Eileen Hards, an Amazon spokesperson, said the Teamsters have “actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal.” The $2 trillion corporation has filed multiple unfair labor practice charges against the union.
In an email to supporters, the Teamsters Local in Tampa asked to not wear political shirts, or bring flyers and signs.
“Teamsters Local 79 needs the solidarity of the labor movement now to keep their picket lines strong!”, the West Central Florida Labor Council said in an email.
For questions about the pickets, send an email to awilcosky@flaflcio.org.
Johannes Werner, reporting for WSLR News
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