The Teamsters’ Imaginary Strike against Amazon

By Sean Higgins

Wednesday, January 01, 2025

 

There was a historic strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters workers at Amazon facilities over the Christmas holiday, yet it didn’t appear to slow Amazon’s deliveries, and actual Amazon employees on picket lines were few.

 

That is to say, the strike was more of a publicity stunt by the Teamsters than an actual grassroots revolt by Amazon workers. These holiday season strikes are an old public relations ploy by unions, who are good at creating a narrative and selling it to reporters.

 

The unions know that the holidays are a tough period for news outlets. Not a lot is happening, because most people are on vacation. Many of the outlets’ own reporters are angling for time off. A news story that seems serious, like a labor strike, and that comes with all of the details provided by the union’s media team is something news outlets will usually jump on. Following up on the union’s claims can wait until after the holidays . . . by which time the strike is usually over and everyone has moved on.

 

The Teamsters announced, just prior to Christmas, the “largest-ever strike against Amazon.” Stories in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, National Public Radio, and CNN, among others, reported on the walkout. “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” declared Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien. Having gotten the headlines they wanted, the Teamsters officially called it off on Christmas Eve.

 

Only the eagle-eyed would notice that while the word “thousands” appeared in some of the headlines, making it seem like a verified fact, the stories attributed that claim to the teamsters. Who knows how many workers really walked out?

 

“There was ONE guy on break protesting at my FC” posted a worker at the subreddit AmazonFC, a worker-created forum. “FC” stands for fulfillment center. A picture on the thread showed a scant four picketers at a site. “Lol there’s like 5 people outside of my building and not even outside the gates like down the road,” said another poster on the same thread. Other posts showed pro- and anti-union comments. There was no clear indication of which side was larger.

 

“There are a lot of nuances here but I want to be clear, the Teamsters don’t represent any Amazon employees despite their claims to the contrary. This entire narrative is a PR play and the Teamsters’ conduct this past year, and this week is illegal,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said.

 

The Teamsters’ effort primarily involves delivery drivers who work for contractors hired by Amazon. Amazon has refused to negotiate with the Teamsters because it doesn’t consider the drivers to be employees. The Teamsters counter that Amazon is a “joint employer” of the drivers.

 

The Teamsters have previously made some inroads to the online retailer. The Amazon Labor Union, a Teamster affiliate, was certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a federal agency, the winner of an organizing vote at a Staten Island facility in April 2022. But Amazon has contested the result, claiming that the NLRB was biased toward the union.

 

The strikes supposedly happened at ten Amazon locations. Amazon has 110 centers across the country. So, the union actions are happening at less than 10 percent of Amazon facilities. Amazon claimed that the incidents didn’t affect package delivery.

 

There are telltale details in the stories that illustrate that the events are hype. The NPR story reported:

 

A major focus for the picketers seemed to focus on drawing more Amazon workers into the union fold. At multiple locations, strikers targeted drivers leaving to deliver packages with chants urging them to sign up to unionize after they complete their route for the day. “Sign up after your route,” picketers chanted in New York.

 

The New York Times carried a similar report.

 

In other words, despite the “strikes,” Amazon drivers were still showing up and driving off on their assigned routes. That does not fit the definition of a strike, which is workers not showing up at all. It’s likely that the majority of the people at the picket lines were existing Teamsters members who worked for other businesses and showed up to boost the protest.

 

“The truth is that they were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to harass and intimidate our team,” Amazon said in a statement to reporters.

 

The Teamsters’ efforts recall how, in the 2000s and 2010s, the Service Employees International Union funded an activist group call Walmart Watch while the United Food and Commercial Workers funded a separate one called Wake-Up Walmart. Both groups worked hard to build the narrative that Walmart workers were fed up and ready to join a union. The groups hoped to create a big enough PR problem for Walmart that it would agree to a collective bargaining contract to end the union harassment.

 

It didn’t work. Both groups went defunct when the unions got tired of throwing their money away.

 

A similar scenario is playing out today. For all the Teamsters’ bluster, it’s ultimately up to the Amazon workers themselves if they want a union. They don’t seem convinced.