The Teamsters want Amazon workers to know they’ll go to bat for them
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: December 20, 2024
Host: Amazon workers have tried to unionize for years, but the world’s biggest retailer has fought their efforts tooth and nail. This summer, the Amazon workers who are organized through the Amazon Labor Union voted to affiliate with the Teamsters. And now, the Teamsters are sending a first warning shot to the $2 trillion corporation, in the shape of a 48-hour warning strike at 24 facilities that held a union vote, after Amazon last Sunday failed to respond to a deadline to sit down and bargain. In Florida, there were pickets, including at three distribution centers in the Tampa Bay area. Our news team went to Ruskin.
Johannes Werner: Ruskin is located half-way between Bradenton and Tampa. At 5 pm on Thursday, a block from the sprawling Amazon distribution center just off I-75, a dozen union members wearing black and gold Teamster shirts chanted, waved signs, and handed out leaflets to drivers. Most of those who stopped were apparently workers, driving to and from work. They got the occasional truck honk, prompting whoops. But it was obvious the action did not disrupt, or even slow down, operations at this warehouse. No workers from within the facility participated in the picket.
Jeff Testa, trustee of Teamsters Local 79 in Tampa, emphasized how important it was to signal to employees to support their colleagues elsewhere, and that the union is ready to fight for them.
Jeff Testa: The Teamsters are striking across the nation. A bunch of different groups with Amazon had voted the union in. They went through their organizing campaign, they voted them in. Now it’s time to get down to negotiations, and Amazon refuses to even set dates to sit down to negotiate. So, we are supporting them. We’re out here on a national strike to try to get Amazon to the table.
So, it’s making a statement to Amazon that, look, you’ve got to follow the law. These people earned a right. They’ve won their campaign. Give them what they’re due. Anybody who believes in the cause and believes these workers are treated unfairly, is more than welcome to walk with us on the picket line.
JW: 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. Workers at eight Amazon facilities, including a distribution center in Atlanta, have voted to authorize strikes, according to the Teamsters. The union says they represent nearly 10,000 Amazon workers at 24 facilities throughout the United States.
The company has resisted unionizing efforts on all levels. Amazon shows no indication it is even willing to recognize that the union speaks for any of its workers. The company is fighting the results of a union election in State Island, New York two years ago in court, and refuses to negotiate with the union or recognize any other employees who have said they have joined the union. Jeff Testa:
JT: Doing that type of work, working for UPS myself as my primary job, that’s hard work. And to not be able to make a living from working that hard, that’s just a sad state of mind. All of you that run the company will see that that’s the way they treat their hard working employees. Any one of them that would be interested in organizing delivery warehouse workers, they should contact local 79.
JW: The pickets in Florida were planned to go on through midnight Friday.
Reporting for WSLR News, this has been Johannes Werner.
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