Published
December 19, 2024
On December 19, the Teamsters union announced a national “strike” against Amazon. There’s just one problem. The strikers don’t actually work for Amazon. This makes it a little unclear what the purpose is, other than to gather headlines and try to stop holiday gifts from being delivered. To use a holiday reference, it would be like Santa’s elves picketing the Easter bunny.
The situation is similar to one that occurred in 2023, when the Teamsters claimed they had “unionized” Amazon, when in fact all they had done was organize a handful of drivers that really worked for a company called Battle Tested Strategies (BTS). Making things even more embarrassing for the Teamsters, BTS wasn’t even providing services to Amazon.
In the current instance, the Teamsters claim to have launched “The Largest Strike Against Amazon in American History.” That statement may well be true, in that there really haven’t been strikes against Amazon in the past. But it’s worth looking at who is actually showing up to strike — because it’s not Amazon employees. As CNN noted, there’s only one group of Amazon workers who claim Teamsters representation, those at a facility in Staten Island (and the circumstances of that election are still being litigated). Workers at that location are not striking.
So who is actually manning the picket lines? For starters, much like the situation with BTS, there are individuals who work at contractors that provide services to Amazon. They are not Amazon employees. There are also Teamsters who work in entirely different industries, as CNN describes. It’s worth noting that these individuals are reportedly being paid $1,000 week by the Teamsters to hold up picket signs.
Whether the “strike” succeeds in delaying any holiday packages is open to question. News reports indicate that many of the locations targeted by the Teamsters had a few dozen “strikers” on hand, with business going on as usual. One picketer said it felt like being a “needle in a haystack.”
The alleged strike may not last long, since even at $1,000 a week few picketers will want to stand outside in the cold on Christmas. But it probably won’t be the last time the Teamsters try to conjure up a strike at Amazon by people who don’t actually work there.
About the authors
Glenn Spencer
Spencer oversees the Chamber’s work on immigration, retirement security, traditional labor relations, human trafficking, wage hour and worker safety issues, EEOC matters, and state labor and employment law.
