In seven U.S. cities, including New York and Atlanta, Amazon (AMZN, Financial) warehouse workers walked off Thursday to pressure the company to negotiate a labour contract with the Teamsters union. The Teamsters, representing about 10,000 workers in 10 Amazon facilities across the U.S., said the strike is the “largest” in the U.S.
The strike, however, falls on some of the most crucial days of the year for holiday shopping, but Amazon says it will not affect operations. Also of note, Amazon’s hourly workforce is dominated by unionsa small fraction of 1% to be exactand Amazon has warehouses in most major cities, so they don’t need to rely on unions to manufacture in these cities.
The strike comes after the Teamsters’ deadline of Dec. 15 for Amazon to start contract negotiations following authorization for the strike by workers. However, in advance of another crunch holiday on Dec. 25, the union blamed Amazon’s “insatiable greed” for potential delivery delays and said the firm had refused to negotiate with it.
In today’s trading, Amazon’s stock price edged higher as investors anticipated minimal disruption. However, the company denies these claims; it calls the Teamsters to mislead the public and force employees into a strike.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
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