Amazon workers and supporters picket in Denver
Thornton, CO – Teamsters Local 455, which represents around 10,000 workers in the Denver area, organized their members to participate in a solidarity picket on December 19 in support of workers at Amazon who are organizing to start a union.
The picket started around 4 a.m., just as overnight workers were leaving and morning shift was coming in. Later in the morning, around 9 a.m., roughly 50 community and labor supporters came out to the Amazon DEN3 fulfilment center and picketed to show their support. They held signs reading “Amazon is unfair” and “TANNC Amazon ULP strike.” The latter slogan refers to the Teamsters Amazon National Negotiating Committee, the leading body behind the unfair labor practice strike taking place across the country at Amazon.
The picket attracted activists from across the state of Colorado, including tenant organizers, Starbucks workers, and Teamsters.
“You should be able to work and be able to afford groceries and these workers are struggling. That’s not fair,” stated Alejandra Beatty, president of the Boulder Labor Council.
Amazon rank and file in targeted facilities across the country are picketing due to Amazon refusing to bargain with the union, which is an unfair labor practice.
Amazon has been known for horror stories in the treatment of their workers, from denying bathroom breaks to arbitrary firing. Today, Amazon workers are fighting for their interests in an organized way.
Amazon claims that their workers are subcontracted and therefore cannot join a union. However, that fiction is finally being challenged on a national level. and the efforts appear significantly organized.
Almost 1 in 150 Americans currently works for Amazon, and solidarity has played a significant role in the strike strategy as labor and community supporters across the country have joined into picket lines to support the striking workers.