Amazon workers strike at San Francisco warehouse Thursday

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Workers at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco are on strike Thursday, joining six other delivery stations of the e-commerce company across the country. The Teamsters, who are seeking a labor agreement during a key shopping period, said it is the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities. On Wednesday, San Francisco union members authorized the strike after they said Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline to negotiate a labor agreement.

“We are fighting for a union contract that guarantees the wages, health care, and safety that we need,” said Janeé Roberts, a worker at the San Francisco warehouse, in an announcement of the strike authorization.

The strikes are happening at six Amazon facilities in Southern California, New York City; Atlanta, Georgia, and Skokie, Illinois, in addition to the San Francisco warehouse, according to the union. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join,” the union said.

Meanwhile, Amazon said the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, are not its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for a third-party business called Delivery Service Partners.

In a statement to KRON4, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, “For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative.”

Nantel continued, “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien claimed that Amazon refuses to recognize the union. “If Amazon wants a fight, the 1.3 million-member Teamsters Union is ready to deliver,” O’Brien said in a statement.