Amazon Warehouse Staff, Contract Drivers to Strike Thursday (1)

Amazon.com Inc. warehouse employees and contract drivers in four states plan to walk off the job at 6 a.m. Eastern on Thursday ahead of the holiday delivery rush, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Groups of workers at seven locations in California, New York, Illinois, and Georgia will go on strike and Teamsters local unions will put up picket lines at hundreds of Amazon fulfillment centers nationwide, the union said in a statement Wednesday night.

The impending strike comes after the Teamsters called on Amazon to recognize its units and come to the bargaining table to negotiate a contract. The union says the company ignored the demands.

“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” said Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien in the statement.

A Teamsters representative wasn’t immediately available to provide an estimate on how many workers would go on strike. But the union has said it represents tens of thousands of workers.

The locations tapped to go on strike are: DBK4 in New York City; DGT8 in Atlanta; DFX4, DAX5, and DAX8 in Southern California; DCK6 in San Francisco; and DIL7 in Skokie, Ill.

JFK8, the company’s first unionized warehouse, authorized a strike but was not called out on Wednesday evening.

Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement Wednesday night that the Teamsters have intentionally misled the public about union efforts at the company and “threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce” workers.

The online retailer also maintains that it does not employ the drivers, who are contracted through intermediaries known as “delivery service partners.” The company says it has more than 1,700 DSPs.

It is fighting unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board, which accused it in October of unlawfully misclassifying the delivery drivers.

All but one of the units scheduled to go out on strike are made up of the drivers. The walkout could set the stage for further legal battles between Amazon, the union, and the labor board.