Caledonia, MI - For 48 straight hours, from December 19 to 21, members of Teamsters Local 406 picketed outside the Amazon GRR1 Fulfillment Center in solidarity with the Amazon Teamsters on strike nationwide. Braving snow and temperatures as low as 23 °F, the trade unionists stayed outside passing out literature, leading chants and talking with community members from Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Caledonia.
Dallas, TX – On December 23, four north Texas Starbucks locations joined the national strike led by Starbucks Workers United (SBWU). The next day, December 24, ten north Texas locations were on strike.
Pickets began at each location, then converged in Denton for a march between striking locations. Starbucks management called police on strikers at the Rayzor Ranch location, but police came and went without arrests.
Seattle, WA – On Friday, December 20, Starbucks workers at five stores in Seattle went on strike. Anchored by the 24 hour picket line at the Reserve Roastery, one of Starbucks’ premiere stores, workers on these picket lines are planning to strike through December 24.
Thornton, CO – On December 20, Teamsters from the Denver area showed up for another solidarity picket at Amazon’s DEN3 warehouse in Thornton, Colorado.
Los Angeles, CA - On day four of the largest strike of Amazon workers in U.S. history, over 100 Amazon workers picketed outside an Amazon facility in Rosemead, California, December 22. Amazon workers want better pay, safer working conditions and respect from management as workers fight to unionize.
Dallas, TX – Teamsters Locals 745 and 767 held solidarity pickets for Amazon workers in support of the national strike demanding the shipping giant recognize the right to unionize and come to the table to negotiate a contract for better working conditions. Across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, there were multiple solidarity pickets on Thursday, December 19 and Friday, December 20.
On December 20, Amazon Teamsters across the country were on day two of major strikes at Amazon facilities in New York, California, Illinois and Atlanta. Other Teamster locals in Milwaukee, Dallas and Des Moines, as well as many places, were conducting solidarity ULP (unfair labor practice) pickets.
Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the World Federation of Trade Unions.
The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 105 million workers across the globe, extends its fullest support to the militant strikes being launched by the U.S. Teamsters Union members against the gigantic Amazon corporation. Thousands of workers at 7 Amazon worksites across the United States struck on December 19, and additional strikes are planned. The Amazon corporation continues its lawless and dictatorial campaign against its workers who want to join trade unions, and are demanding better pay and conditions. Inaction and paralysis on the part of the U.S. government in the face of this outrageous Amazon company conduct has pushed the workers to take this strike action.
Chicago, IL - On November 13, 1800 members of the Illinois Nurses Association (INA) went on strike against University of Illinois Health for continuing to refuse to negotiate a decent contract. Since June, the union has had 47 bargaining sessionswith UI Health, to no avail. In August, a week-long strike was held, but this did not stop management’s greed. The union wasleft with no choice but to go on an open-ended strike.
Minneapolis, MN – On November 4, around 730 longshoremen in British Columbia, Canada walked off the job and began a strike. The striking longshoremen are represented by the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU), Local 514 which is the foremen’s local.
