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. 

During the 48 hours outside, many drivers from Amazon and the nearby Coca-Cola facility honked their horns and raised their fists in support. “There seems to be a lot of interest from the drivers,” one activist on the picket-line stated. “Amazon likes to hire them out as independent contractors. Drivers are more likely to get screwed over when they don’t have legal protection.”

The nationwide strike began because of Amazon’s refusal to bargain with workers.

At Amazon facilities, supervisors play into anti-union propaganda during captive audience meetings and by impersonating union reps, one activist at the GRR1 facility told the picketers early Friday morning. Events from the last few days have corroborated these claims. Videos from pickets nationwide have shown such repressive tactics as police arresting striking workers, police violently pushing back trade unionists to allow scabs to cross the picket, and – in one instance – Amazon supervisors turning on an outdoor wastewater release near picketers at the Queens, New York DB4K facility during the afternoon of the December 21.

Eduardo Montiel, the chair of the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression who was formerly employed at the Amazon GRR1 plant, stated, “The bosses have shown brutality in the way they treat these picketing workers and have even arrested a few – all for using their rights to protest work conditions.”

At the GRR1 facility, the picketers had to park far away from the line or risk having their cars towed, making it difficult to warm up or rest during the cold evenings. During the first day of picketing, one supervisor allegedly confronted a reporter for parking in the massive lot near the picket line. 

Local activists from Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids (PSGR) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization stood alongside the Teamsters at GRR1. When asked about the importance of showing up for workers, Emerson Wolfe the chair of PSGR stated, ”With so many of our tax dollars funding the U.S. war machine, we know how important it is to join the fight for workers’ rights. Jeff Bezos is profiting off the surveillance and targeting of Palestinian families, and over a million Amazon workers are forced to be complicit in the genocide. A strong, unionized workforce would put bargaining power in the hands of workers and allow regular people the right to stand up against the greed and depravity of billionaires.”

As of Christmas day, the strike has expanded into Staten Island and Atlanta Amazon facilities. 

Starbucks workers have also begun their own strike – and Teamster delivery drivers to the coffee chain are, by contract, not allowed to cross the picket line. 

#CaledoniaMI #Teamster #Amazon #AmazonStrike #Strike #Labor #UnionPower #GrandRapidsMI #GrandRapids

Early in the morning, Teamsters from Local 455 and Local 17 showed up outside DEN3 to pass flyers to workers coming in and out of the warehouse. Picketers carried signs that demanded Amazon recognize the union and stop breaking the law through unfair labor practices.

The Teamsters in California, New York and Atlanta have been in the process of forming a union, but Amazon has refused to recognize their union and negotiate with the workers for a collective bargaining agreement. The actions happening now are part of a push throughout the country demanding that Amazon recognize their union and come to the bargaining table.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has announced that warehouse workers and drivers who are in the places where a majority of workers have signed cards to form a union will be on strike until an agreement is met. O’Brien called for Teamsters locals across the country to show solidarity and to try to get Amazon involved.

Both Amazon and the mainstream media have been critical of the strike because of the effects it will have on holiday shopping. However, the Teamsters union has repeatedly clarified that this would not be an issue if Amazon came to the bargaining table. Amazon has also claimed that this strike is not happening or is not causing any delays. At the same time, they have used police to attempt to force strikers off Amazon property. Amazon has also been hiring scabs across the country and demanding workers in non-union shops work upwards of 70 or 80 hours in the next few days.

Two women onsite at the pickets said that they were told they would be fired if they did not work the three 16-hour shifts they were scheduled for Christmas. Amazon has been able to become the company that it is today due to the labor of its large workforce, yet many of its workers say they can’t afford homes, food, cars or insurance while putting their body on the line every day at work.

The battle at Amazon could have ramifications for other companies that use similar models of low-wage workers and high profits. Amazon has run a robust and expensive union busting operation across its company and the Teamsters union hopes that these actions can signal an uptick in worker power and organization at Amazon.

Many community groups as well as other unions, such as SEIU, IBEW, SMART, UA, SBWU and AFL-CIO, came out to show their support for the Teamsters effort to organize at Amazon.

#ThorntonCO #DenverCO #Teamsters #Amazon #AmazonStrike #Strike #Labor #UnionPower

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.

The workers turned in union recognition cards signed by a majority of the Rosemead workers and have since been demanding recognition of their union - the International Brotherhood of Teamsters – by Amazon. However, the corporation has not been willing to recognize their union and refuses to come to the bargaining table to negotiate a first union contract.

Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., the workers picketed in front of the facility’s driveways, proudly chanting “Hey hey Amazon, union busting is disgusting.” As the delivery drivers were leaving the complex, workers picketing along the driveways spoke to workers one on one, asking them to join them and the Teamsters union. Many were interested in talking more and supporting the effort.

The picketing continued as the crowd chanted, “Amazon, Amazon you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side!”

The strikes happening right now are the largest in Amazon’shistory. This uptick comes in a time when workers are forming new unions at rates not seen for many decades in the U.S.

#LosAngelesCA #LA #RosemeadCA #Rosemead #Teamsters Amazon #Feature #Strike #AmazonStrike #Labor