“These greedy executives had every chance to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible,” Teamsters general president Sean M. O’Brien said in a public statement. “Instead, they’ve pushed workers to the limit and now they’re paying the price. This strike is on them.”
This has been a record-breaking year for Amazon. According to the company’s Q3 earnings report, the profit from July through September rose 55 percent in 2024 compared to the same period last year. In a press release published with the earnings report, Amazon president and CEO Andy Jassy said the company was “excited about what we have in store for customers” for the holiday season. The report anticipated net sales to be between $181.5 billion and $188.5 billion in Q4.
“We haven’t seen any impact on our operations” from the strikes, says Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel. “We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.” Nantel also accused the Teamsters of harassing and intimidating Amazon employees.
At DBK4, located in Queens, New York, hundreds of Amazon workers marched on the sidewalk in front of the exit to a parking garage, at times verbally confronting exiting delivery drivers who were crossing the picket line. Many delivery vans blared their horns in unison as they waited in line to get out of the parking garage. Some protesting workers held signs saying “Amazon obey the law.” The marchers included people who came out in solidarity, carrying signs representing the New York State Nurses Association and City University of New York (CUNY) students.
Meanwhile, New York Police Department officers stood in the street, sometimes shouting at and shoving workers who stepped off the sidewalk. Just after 9 am ET, NYPD arrested a delivery driver who attempted to exit his delivery van just outside the parking garage and join the strikers. At around 9:50 am, NYPD announced via loudspeaker that any workers who stood in the road would be arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Shortly after, the NYPD placed a Teamsters organizer under arrest, though it’s unclear if they were in the street. Eventually, police set up barricades outside the garage and began personally organizing the delivery vans with non-striking Amazon loss-prevention workers.
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